Circulating medium

By
this term is understood whatever is
used in making payments, as money,
bank notes, or paper which passes from
hand to hand in payment of goods, or
debts. It is a term more extensive
than money.

CIRCUMDUCTION, Scoteh.law , is

a term applied to the time allowed for
bringing proof of allegiance, which
lieing elapsed, if cither party sue for
circumduction of the time of proving,
it has the effect that no proof can af-
terwards lie brought; and the cause
must be determined as it stood when
circumduction was obtained. Tech.
Diet.

CIRCUMSTANCES, cvi/lence, the
particulars which accompany a fact.

2. — The facts proved are cither pos-
sible or impossible, ordinary and pro-
bable, or extraordinary and improba-
ble, recent or ancient ; they may hnvo
hnp|>cncd near us, or a (hr off; they are
public or private, permanent or transi-
tory, clear and simple, or complicated ;
they arc always accompanied by cir-
cumstances which more or less mflu-
cnce the mind in forming a judgment.

CIR

247

And in some instances these circum-
stances assume the character of irre-
sistible evidence; where, for example,
a woman was found dead in a room,
with every mark of having met with a
violent death, the presence of another
person at the scene of action was made
manifest by the bloody mark of a left
hand visible on her left arm. 14 How.
St. Tr. 1324. These points ought to
be carefully examined, in order to form
a correct opinion. The first question
ought to be, is the fact possible ? If
so, are there any circumstances which
render it impossible? If the facts arc
impossible, the witness ought not to Ixj
credited. If, for example, a man
should swear that he saw tho deceased
shoot himself with his own pistol, and
upon an examination of the ball which
killed him, it should l>e found too large
to enter into the pistol, the witness
ought not to be credited. 1 Stark.
Ev. 505 ; or if one should swear that
another had been guilty of the impos-
sible crime of witchcraft.

‘ 3. — Toullicr mentions a case, which,
were it not for the ingenuity of the
counsel, would require an apology for
its introduction here, on account of its
length. The case was this : — La
Veuve Veron brought an action against
M. do Mornngies on some notes, which
the defendant alleged were fraudulently
obtained, for the purpose of recovering
300,000 francs, and the question was,
whether the defendant had received the
money. Dujonquai, the grandson of
the plaintiff, pretended he had himself,
alone and on foot, carried this sum in
gold to the defendant, at his hotel at
the upper end of the rue Saint Jacques,
in thirteen trips, between lmlf-]>ost
seven and about one o’clock, that is, in
about five hours and n half, or, at most,
six hours. The fact was improbable ;
Linquet, the counsel of the defendant,
proved it was impossible; and this is
his argument :

4. — Dujonquai said that ho had di-
vided the sum in thirteen hags, each
containing six hundred louis d’ors, and
in twenty-three other bags, each con-
taining two hundred. There remained |

CIR

twenty-five louis to complete the whole
sum, which, Dujonquai said, he re-
ceived from the defendant as a gra-
tuity. At each of these trips, he says,
he put a bag, containing two hundred
louis, — that is, about three pounds four
ounces,- — in each of his coat pockets,
which, being made in the fashion of
those times, hung about the thighs, and
in walking must have incommoded him
and obstructed his speed, he took, be-
sides, a bag containing six hundred
louis in his arms ; by this means his
movements were impeded by a weight
of near ten pounds.

5. — The measured distance between
the house where Dujonquai took the
hags to the foot of the stairs of the
defendant, was five hundred and six-
teen toiscs, which multiplied by twenty-
six, tho thirteen trips going and
returning, make thirteen thousand
four hundred and sixteen toises, that
is, more than five leagues and a half
(near seventeen miles), of two thou-
sand four hundred toises, which latter
distance is considered sufficient for an
hour’s walk, of a good walker. Thus,
if Dujonquai had been unimpeded by
any obstacle, he would barely have
j hud time to perform the task in five or
six hours, even without taking any
rest or refreshment. However strik-
ingly improbable this may have been,
it was not physically impossible. But

<)• — 1. Dujonquai in going to the
defendant’s had to descend sixty-three
steps from his grandmother’s, the
plaintitrs, chamber, and to ascend
twenty-seven to that of the defendant,
in the whole, ninety steps. In re-
turning, the ascent and descent were
changed, but the steps were the same ;
so that by multiplying by twenty-six,
the number of trips going and return-
ing, it would be seen there were two
thousand three hundred and forty steps.
Experience had proved that in ascend-
ing to the top of the tower of Notre
Dame (a church in Paris), where there
an; three hundred and eighty-nine
steps, it occupied from eight to nine
minutes of time. It must then have
taken an hour out of the five or six

248

cm

CIT

which had been employed in making
the thirteen trips.

7. — 2. Dujonquai had to go up the
rue Saint Jaques, which is very steep ;
its ascent would necessarily decrease
the speed of a man burdened and en-
cumbered with tho bugs which he
curried in his pockets and in his arms.

8. — 3. This street, which is very
public, is usually, particularly in the
morning, encumbered by a multitude
of persons going in every direction, so
that u person going along must make
an infinite number of deviations from
u direct line ; each, by itself, is almost
imperceptible, but at the end of five or
six hours they make a considerable
sum, which may be estimated at a
tcuth part of the whole course in a
straight line, this would make about
half a league, to lie added to the five
and a half leagues, which is the dis-
tance in a direct line.

9. — 1. On the morning that Dujon-
quai made these trips, the daily and
usual incumbrances of this street were
increased by sixty or eighty workmen,
who were employed in removing, by
hand and with machine, an enormous
stone, intended lor the church of
Sainte Genevieve, now the pantheon,
and by the immense crowd which this
attracted ; this was a remarkable cir-
cumstance, w hich, supposing that Du-
jonquai had not yielded to the temptation
of slopping a few moments to see what
was doing, it must necessarily have
impeded his way, and made him lose
seven or eight minutes each trip,
which multiplied by twenty-six, would
mukc about two hours and a half.

10. — 6. The witness was obliged to
open and shut the doors at the defend-
ant’s house; it required time to take
up tho bags and place them in his
pockets, to take them out and put
them on the defendant’s tablo, who, by
an intprobablc supposition, counted the
money in the intervals between the
trips, and not in the presence of the
witness. Dujonquai, too, must have
taken receipts or acknowledgments at
each trip, he must read them, and on
arriving at home, deposited them in

some place of safety; all these dis-
tractions would necessarily occasion
the loss of a few minutes. By adding
these with scrupulous nicety, and by
further adding the time employed in
taking and depositing the bags, the
opening and shutting of the doors, the
reception of the receipts, the time occu-
pied in reading and putting them away,
the time consumed in several con-
versations, which ho admitted he had
with persons in the street ; all these
joined to the obstacles above mentioned,
made it evident that it was physically
impossible that Dujonquai should have
carried the 300,009 francs to the house
of the defendant, as he affirmed he
had done. Toull. tom. 9, n. 241, p.
384. Vide, generally, 1 Stark. Ev.
502; 1 Phil. Ev. 116. Sec some
curious cases of circumstancial evi-
dence in Alis. Pr. Cr. Law, 313, 314;
and 2 Theorie dcs Lois criminelles,
147,n.; 3 Benth. Jud. Ev. 94,223:
Harvey’s Meditations on the Night,
note 35; 1 Taylor’s Med. Jur. 372;
14 How. St. Tr. 1324 ; Theory of
Presumptive Proof, passim ; Best on
Pres. ^ 187, 188, 107, See Death;
Presumption ; Somnambulism..

Cl RC UM ST A N D 1 BUS , 2*'rsonsi

practice , are bystanders, from whom
jurors arc to be selected when the panel
has been exhausted. Vide Talcs dc
circumsta ml ibus.

CIRCUMVENTION, torts , Scotch
law, any act of tVaud w hereby a person
is reduced to a deed by decreet. Tech.
Diet. It has the some sense in the
civil law. Dig. 50, 17, 49 et 155;
Id. 12, 6, 6, 2; Id. 41, 2, 34. Vide
Periphrasis.

CITATO) AD REASSUMENDAM
CAUSAM, civil law. The name of a
citation, which issued when a party
died wending a suit, against the heir of
the defendant, or when the plaintiff
died, for the heir of the plaintiff. Our
bill of revivor is probably borrowed
from this proceeding.

CITATION, practice, is a writ
issued out of a court of competent
jurisdiction, commanding a person
therein named to ap|>oar and do some-

CIT

CIT

249

thing therein mentioned, or to show
cause why he should not, on a day
named. Proof. Pr. h. t. In the eccle-
siastical law, the citation is the begin-
ning and foundation of the whole cause ;
it is said to have six requisites, namely,
the insertion of the name of the judge
— of the promovert— of the impugnant
— of the cause of suit — of the place —
and of the time of appearance; to
which may Ik; added the ntlixing the
scnl of the court, and the name of the
register or his deputy. 1 Bro. Civ.
Law, 453, 4; AvI. Parer, xliii., 175;
Hall’s Adm. Pr. 5; Merl. Rep. h. t.
By citation is also understood the act
by which a person is summoned, or
cited.

Citation of afthorities, is the
production or reference to the text of
nets of legislatures and of treatises,
and decided eases, which arc indicated
in order to support what is advanced.

2. — Works are sometimes sur-
charged with useless and misplaced
citations ; when they are judiciously
made they assist the render in his re-
searches. Citations ought not to Ik;
made to prove wlmt is not doubted ;
but when a controverted point is
mooted, it is highly proper to cite the
laws and eases, or other authorities in
support of the controverted proposition.

3. — The mode of citing statutes
varies in the United States; the laws
of the United States are generally
cited by their date, ns the act of Sept.
24, 17*9, s. 35; or Act of 1819, eh.
170, 3 Story’s If. S. Laws, 1722; in
Pennsylvania acts of assembly are
cited as follows, net of 14th of April,
1834 ; in Massachusetts, stat. of 1808,
c. 92. Treatises and hooks of reports,
arc generally cited by the volume and
page, ns, 2 Powell on Mortg. 000 ; 3
Binn. R. 00. Judge Story and some
others, following the examples of the
civilians, have written their works and
numbered the paragraphs; these arc
cited ns follows, Story’s Bailm. $ 494 ;
Gould on PI. c. 5, \ 30. For other
citations the render is referred to the
article Abbreviations.

4. — It is usual among the civilians

Vol. i. — 32

on the continent of Europe, in imitation
of those in the darker ages, in their
references to the Institutes, the Code,
and the Pandects or Digest, to mention
the number, not of the book, but of the
law*, and the first word of the title to
which it belongs; and ns there arc
more than a thousand of these, it is no
easy task for one not thoroughly ac-
quainted with those collections, to find
the place to which reference is made.
The American w riters generally follow
the natural mode of reference, by put-
ting down the name of the collection,
and then the number of the book, title,
law, and section. For example, Inst.
4, 15, 2, signifies Institutes, book four,
title fifteen, and section two. Dig. 41,
9, I, 3, means Digest, book 41, title 9,
law 1, section 3. Dig. pro dote; or
ff pro dote ; that is, section 3, law 1 ,
of the book and title of the Digest or
Pandects, entitled pro dote. It is pro-
per to remark that Dig. and ff arc
equivalent ; the former signifies Digest,
and the latter, which is a careless mode
of writing the Greek letter «■, the first
letter of the word •xx*S'i^raii Pandects,
and the Digest and Pandects are differ-
ent names for one and the same thing.
The Code is cited in the same way.
The Novels are cited by their number,
with that of the chapter and paragraph ;
for example, Nov. 185, 2, 4; for No-
vcllft Justiniani 185, capita 2, para-
grapho 4. Novels are also quoted by
the Collation, the title, chapter, and
paragraph, as follows; in Authcntico,
Collation© I , titulo 1, cap. 281. The
Authentics are quoted by their first
words, after which is set down the title
of the Code under which they arc
placed; for exomple, Authcnticn rum
testator, Codice ad legem fascidiam.
See; Mackol. Mun. Intro. § 65.

CITIZEN, persons. One who,
under the constitution and laws of the
United States, has a right to vote for
representatives in Congress, and other
public officers, and who is qualified to
fill offices in the gift of the people. In
u more extended sense, under the
word citizen, are included all white
persons born in tho United States, and

250

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CIV

naturalized jicrsons bom out the same,
who have not lost their right as such.
This includes men, women, and chil-
dren.

2. — Citizens arc cither native born
or naturalized. Native citizens mny fill
any office ; naturalized citizens mny
bd elected or appointed to any office
under the constitution of* the United
States, except the office of president
and vice-president. The constitution
provides, that “the citizens of each
state1 shall be entitled to all the privi-
leges and immunities of citizens in the
several states.” Art. 4, s. 2.

3. — All natives arc not citizens of
the United States, the descendants of
the aboriginies, and those of African
origin are not entitled to the rights of
citizens. Anterior to the adoption of
the constitution of the United States,
each state had the right to make
citizens of such persons as it pleased.
That constitution does not authorise
any but white persons to become citi-
zens of the United States; and it must
therefore be presumed that no one is a
citizen who is not white. 1 Litt. R.
334; 10 Conn. R. 840; 1 Meigs, R.
331.

4 — A citizen of the United States,
residing in any state of the Union, is a
citizen of that state. G Pet. 701 ;
Paine, 504 ; 1 Brock. 301 ; 1 Paige,
188; Mete. Sc Perk. Dig. h. t. ; vide 3
.Story’s Const. § 1687 ; 2 Kent, Com.
258; 4 Johns. Ch. R. 430; Vatt. B.
1, c. 19, § 212; Potli. Des Personnel,
tit. 2, s. 1. Vide Dofly Politic ; In -
habitant.

CITY, government , is a town incor-
porated by that name. Originally this
word did not signify a town, but a
portion of mankind who lived under
the same government : what the Ro-
mans called civitas and the Greeks
polls ; whence the word jxlitcia, civitas
sen rcipublica status cl a'hninist ratio.
Toull. Dr. Civ. Fr. I. 1, t. 1, n.
202.