DELEGATION. A sending away; a putting into commission; the assignment of a debt to another; the intrusting another with a general power to act for the good of those who depute him.
At common law. The transfer of authority by one person to another; the act of making or commissioning a delegate.
The whole body of delegates or representatives sent to a convention or assembly from one district. place, or political unit are collectively spoken of as a "deit-gation."
In the nivil law. A species or novation which consists in, the change of one dehtor for another when he who is indebted substitutes a third person who obligates himself in his stand to the creditor, so that the first dehtor is acquitted and his obligation extin- guished, and the creditor contents himself with the obligation of the second dohtor. Delegation is essentially distin;:uished from any other species of novation, in this: that the former demands the consent of all three parties, but the latter that only of the two parties to the new deint. I Domat, 5 2318; Adams v. Power. 48 Miss. 454.
Delegation is noration effected by the intervention of another person whom the debt- or, in order to be lihernted from his cred- itor, gives to such creditor, or to him whom the creditor appoints; and such person so given becomes obliged to the creditor in the plnce of the original debtor. Burge, Sur. 173.
Delegntus non potent delegate. A dei- egate cannot delegate: an agent cannot dele- gate his functions to a suhagent without the knowledge or consent of the principal; the person to whom an office or duty is delegated cannot lawfully devolve the duty on an- other, unless he be expressly authorized so to do. 9 Coke. 7"; Broom. Max. 840; 2 Kent. Comm. 633; 2 Steph. Comm. 119.
DELESTAGE.}} In French marine law. A discharging of ballast (lost) from a Vessel.
DELETE. In Scotch law. To erase; to strike out. DELI‘. A quarry or mine. 31 Eiiz. c. 1.
Delihox-a.ndn.m est din quad statuendnm eat name}. 12 Coke, 74. That which is to be resolved once for all should be long deliberated upon.
DELIBERATE, 0. To weigh, ponder, discuss. To examine, to consult, in order to form an opinion.
DEL1‘BERA'i.'l-1, adj. By the use of this word. in describing a crime, the idea is con- veyed that the perpetrator weighs the motives for the act and its consequences, the nature of the crime, or other things connected with his intentions, with a view to a decision thereon; that he carefully considers
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all these; and that the act is not suddelv committed. It implies that the perpetrator must be capable of the exercise of such m9 tal powers as are called into use by car. liberation and the consideration and weiging of motives and consequences. State v. Boyle. 28 Iowa, 524.
‘Dr-\iihera.tlun" and "premedltation" are of the same character of mental nperaljons. dit- fering only in degzrne. Deliberation i-4 hui pnb ion::c:i premeriitntion. In other WOI'\A‘-i. in law. deliberation is prerneditation in a cc-vi state of the blood, or, where there has been heat of pill- slon. It is premeditation continued beyond period within which there has I‘-en tivvn n: the blood to cool, in the given c ' Dclirna tion is not only to think of he!‘ rehand whit) may be but for an instant, but the inc; til to do the act is C0l’lSldl'|'£‘d. Welflhfd, pun upon, for such a length of time v iter a prunetion is given 115 the jury may fiud was snfivitm for the blood to cool. One in a heat of main may premcditate without deiihvr-mug Dvlib ernticrn is only cxerrisul in a cool sluts of no blood, while premcditation may be either in that state of the hiond or in the heat of pass on. Slate v. Kororsky_ 74 \in. 2-19: S to v. Lindp Z1-ind. 3-'3 "'ash. 44-0. 74 Pac State V.
, . . . _ Stan-. r. Fairlami), l'.’1 JVIO. 137. 95 S. W. 895: Milton V. State. 6 Nob. 143 State v. Gruwieaf, Ti N. H. 606. 54 Ail. SS: State v. Fiske. iii Conn. 338. 28 Ati 5372; Craft v. State. 3 Kan. -191: Slate v. Snood, 91 .\[o. 4 _ '. 411: Deilney v. Slate, 45 Neil. 87 6-1 N. W. 446. 34 L. R. A. S-."i1: Cannon v. State, 60 Ark. 564, 31 S. W. 150.
DELIBERATION. The act or process of
deliberating. The act of weighing and ex-
amining the reasons for and against a contemplated act or course of conduct or a
choice or acts or means. See Dmrnnasn.
Delicahu dcbitor est cdiosns in logo. A luxurious debtor is odious iii law. 2 Bulst. 148. Imprisonment for debt has now. however, been generally abolished.
DELICT. In the Roman and civil law. A wrong or injury; an offense; a violation of public or private duty.
It will be observed that this word, taken in its most general sense, is wider in both directions than our En" h term "tort." On the one hand, it includ . ose wron_Lvful acts which. while directly affecting some individual or his property, yet extend in their injurious conse- quences to the peace or security of the community at large, and hence rise to the grade of crimes or misdemeanors. These acts were termed in the llonmn law "public deiictsz" while those for which the only penalty exacted was compensation to the person primarily in- jured were denominated "private dehcts." On the other hand, the term appears to have icnluded injurious actions which transplred unthout any malicious intention on the part of the door. Thus Pothicr gives the name "quui delicts" to the acts of a person who, without maii,-znity, hnt by an inexcusable impruriencc, causes an injury to another. Poth. Ohl. 116. But the term is used in modern ju isprudence as a convenient synonym of "tort:' that is, a wrongful and injurious violation of a in: iv. rem or right available against all the world. This appears in the two contrasted hrases. "actions on cantractu" and "actions ea: citcio."
Quasi delict. An act whereby a. person. without malice, but by fault, negligence, or ira-
