Class

The order according to
which arc ranged or dostributod, or
are supposed to be ranged or distributed,
divers |>crsoii8 or things ; thus we sav,
a class <»f legatees.

2. — When a legacy is given to n
class of individuals, all who answer
the description ut the time the will
shall tuke effect, are entitled, and though
the expression be in the plural, yet if
there bo hut one, he shall take the
whole. 3 McCord, Ch. R. 440.

3. — When a tend is given to a cluss,
it is good, and the whole of the persons
composing that cluss are entitled to

sue upon it; but if the obligor be a
member of such class, the bond is void,
because a man cannot be obligor and
obligee at the same time ; as if a tend
be given to the justices of the county
court, and at the time he is himself one
of said justices. 3 Dev. 284, 287,
289 ; 4 Dev. 382.

4. — When a charge is made against
a class of society, a profession, an
order or body of men, and cannot
possibly import a personal application
to private injury, no action lies ; but if
any one of the class have sustained
special damages in consequence of
such charge, he may inuintnin an
action. 17 Wend. 52; 23, 1«6. See
12 John. 475. When the charge is
against one of a class without desig-
nating which, no action lies ; as, where
throe persons had teen examined as
witnesses, and the defendant said in
addressing himself to them, “ one of
you three is perjured.” 1 Roll. Ab.
81 ; Cro. Jac. 107 ; 16 Pick. 132.

CLAUSE, contracts , A particular
disposition which makes part of a
treaty ; an act of the legislature ; a
deed, written agreement, or other
written contract or will. When a
clause is obscurely written, it ought to
be constructed in such a wuy ns to
agree with what precedes and what
follows, if possible. Vide Dig. 50, 17,
77. Construction ; Interpretation .

CLAUSUM FREGIT, torts, reme-
dies i he broke the close. These
words are used in a writ for an action
of trespass to real estate, the defendant
being summoned to answer and show
cause qua re clasum f re git., that is,
why he broke the close of the plaintilf.
3 Bl. Com. 209.

2. — Trespass quart clausum fregit
lies for every unlawful intrusion,
whether the land is enclosed or not,
though only grass may te trodden. 1
Dev. A: Bat. 371. And to maintain
tins action there must te a possession
in the plaintiff, and a right to that
possession. 9 Co wen, 39 ; 4 Y’cates,
418; 11 Conn. 60 ; 10 Conn. 225 ; 1
John. 511; 12 John. 183; 4 Watts,
377; 4 Bibb, 218; 15 Pick. 32; 6

CLE

CLE

253

Rand. 556; 2 Yeates, 210; 1 liar. &
John. 205; 8 Mass. 411.

CLEARANCE, comm . law. The
name of a certificate given by the col-
lector of a port in which is stated the
master or commander (naming him) of
a ship or vessel named and described,
bound for a port named, and having
on board goods described, has entered
and cleared his ship or vessel according
to law.

2. — The act of Congress, of 2d
March, 1790, section 93, directs, that
the master of any vessel bound to a
foreign place, shall deliver to the col-
lector of the district from which such
vessel shull be about to dejmrt, a
man i lest of all the cargo on board, and
the value thereof, by him subscribed,
und shall swear or atlirm to the truth
thereof; whereuj>on the collector shall
grant a clearance for such vessel and
her cargo; but without specifying the
particulars thereof in such clearance ;
unless required by the master so to do.
And if any vessel bound to any foreign I
place shall depart on her voyage to ,
such foreign place, without delivering
such a manifest and obtaining a clear-
ance, the master shall forfeit and pay ,
the sum of five hundred dollars for
every sucli offence. Provided, any- ,
thing to the contrary notwithstanding, ,
the collectors and other officers of the
customs shall pay due regard to the 1
insjiection luws of the states in which
they rcs|>ectively act, in such manner
that no vessel having on board goods
liable to inspection, shall be cleared out
until the master or other person shall
have produced such certificate, that
all such goods have been duly inspect-
ed, as the laws of the respective states
do or may require, to be produced to
the collector or other officer of the
customs. And provided, that receipts
for the payment of all legal fees which
shall have accrued on any vessel, i
shall before any clearance is granted, !
be produced to the collector or other
officer aforesaid.

3. — According to Boulav-Paty, Dr.
Com. tome 2, p. 19, the clearunce is
imperiously demanded for the safety I

of the vessel, for if a vessel should be
found without it at sea, it may be
legally taken and brought into some
port lor adjudication, on a charge of
piracy. Vide Ship's papers.

CLEARING MOUSE, comm. law.
Among the English bankers, the clear-
ing house is a place in Lombard street,
in London, where the bankers of that
city daily settle with each other the
balances which they owe, or to which
they are entitled. Desks are placed
around the room, one of which is ap-
propriated to each banking house, and
they are occupied in alphabetical order.
Each clerk has a box or drawer along
side of him, and the name of the house
he respresents is inscribed over his
head. A clerk of each house comes
in about half-past three o’clock in the
affernoon, and brings the draffs or
checks on the other bankers, which
have been paid by his house that day,
und dejK>sites them in their proper
drawers. The clerk at the desk credits
their accounts separately which they
have against him, as found in the
drawer. Balances arc thus struck from
ull the nccounts, and the claims trans-
ferred from one to another, until they
are so wound up and cancelled, that
each clerk has only to settle with two
or three others, and the balances ure
immediately paid. When draffs arc
paid at so late an hour that they cannot
be cleared that day, they are sent to
the houses on which they arc drawn,,
to be marked, that is, a memorandum
is made on them, and they arc to bo
cleared the next day. Sec Gilbart’s
Practical Treatise on Banking, pp. 16-
20 ; Babbage on the Economy of
Machines, n. 173,174; Kelly’s Cam-
bist; Byles on Bills, 100, 1 10; Pulling’s
Laws and Customs of London, 437.

CLEMENCY, the act of forgiving
or pardoning an offence. Sec Mercy;
Vardan.

CLEMENTINES, reel, law, is the
name usually given to the collection of
decretals or constitutions of Pope Cle-
ment V., which was made by order of
John XXII., his successor, who publish-
ed it in 1317. The death of Clement

254

CLE

CLO

V., which happened in 1314, prevented
him from publishing this collection,
which is properly a compilation, as
well of the epistles and constitutions of
tins pope, as of the decrees of the
council of Vienna, over which he pre-
sided. Tho Clementines are divided
in five books, in which the matter is
distributed nearly upon the same plan
as the Decretals of Gregory IX. Vide
La Bibliotheque des auteurs ccclesias-
tiques, par Dupin.