COKTSEKVATOKY. 315 CONSIGNMENT. iiiusie has made enormous strides within the hist qiiarter of a century, and conservatories have been founded in nearly all the larger cities. The liest-known is the National Conservatory of Music of America, founded in New York, 1885. For a time A. Dvorflk was the director. He was succeeded by Eniil Paur. Among its ])rofessors have been Anton Seidl, R. Josefl'y, B. O. Klein, D. Buck. Other ^^■ell•known conservatories are the Peabody Institute in Baltimore (1S71), the Cin- cinnati College of Music (1878), the New Eng- land Conservatory of ^lusic in Bosttm (1882). Besides, some of the great American universities have added a complete course of music to their regular curriculum, as Harvard (John K. Paine), Yale (Horatio W. Parker), Columbia (E. A. MacDowell). CONSERVATOEY. In horticulture, a glass house used for the preservation of tender exotics and the display rather than the propagation or growing, of plants which have been brought to their ornamental perfection in a greenhouse. The term is often applied loosely to any orna- jnental greenhouse. See GREErsiiorsE. CON'SHOHOCK'EN. A borough in Jlont- gomery County, Pa.. 13 miles northwest of Phila- delphia : on the Schuylkill River, and on the Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia and Reading railroads (Map: Pennsylvania, F .3). The more important industrial establishments include roll- ing-mills, steel-mills, foundries, furnaces, surgi- cal-implement -vi-orks, and cotton and woolen mills, the principal products of which form the basis of an extensive trade. Conshohocken was founded in IS.SO, and was incorporated as a borough in 18.52. Population, in 1890, 5470; in moo, 57G2. CONSIDEBANT, koN'sJ'da'riiN', Victor Prosper ( 1S0S-'.i.3). A French socialist, bom at Salins. in the Department of Jura. After being educated at the Ecole Polyteehnique in Paris, he entered the army, vhich, however, he soon left to promulgate the doctrines of Fourier (q.v.). After the death of his master, Considerant be- came the head of the Societarians (q.v.), and undertook the management of the Fhalange, a review devoted to the propagation of their opin- , ions. Having gained the financial support of a j'oung Englishman, ]Ir. Young, he established (18.32) on a large scale, in the Department of Eure-et-Lqir, a Socialist colony or phalanstcre : but the experiment failed, and with it the Pha- lange "went out of existence. However, a new organ of coiiperative doctrine, the Dcmorratie pacifiqiie, was soon established, and was edited by Considerant with great zeal, perseverance, and ability. In 1848-49 he was a member of the Con- stituent Assembly, but was accused of high trea- son and compelled to flee to Belgium. Thence he emigrated to Texas, where he founded, near San Antonio, a Societarian community. La Reunion ; this, however, proved a failure, and Considerant returned to France in 1869. The most impor- tant of his numerous writings is Destin6e sociale (1 8.34-4.51. See CoirxruNiSM. CONSIDERATION (Lat. considcratio, from coiisiderarr. to observe, from com-, together + sidus. starl. In the law of contracts, in the ease of a simple contract, a detriment or the surrender of a right by one party in exchange for the promise of the other party. In case of a iiilateral contract — i.e. one in which the promises Vol. v.— 21. arc mutual — eaeli promise is a consideration for the otlicr. A consideration is essential to a valid simple contract. A mere promi.se nuide without a consideration is called by lawyers a naked promise (uiidiitii pactuiii), and on it suit will not lie. Such a promise, even though made in writ- ing, is not a valid legal contract ; but by the law of negotiable pa|icr it is presumed to be given for valid consideration. Tiiis presump- tion may be rebutted as between maker and ]iayee, but is conclusive in favor of hoiui fide holders for value, against whom want of con- sideration is never a defense by the maker of negotiable paper. The requirement of considera- tion as a necessary element in a simple contract is due to the historical development of the con- tract action of assumpsit (q.v.) as an action in tort. In that action the plaintiff was required to show that he had given up a right or suf- fered some detriment in reliance upon, or in ex- cliange for, the defendant's promise, by reason of which he had been damaged. Thus a consid- eration need not be in the form of a direct benefit to the contracting party, but may be something involving loss or prejudice to the second party to the eonti-act. A service rendered gratuitously is not a consideration which will support a promise to pay for the service made subsequently to the rendering of the service, be- caiise such service is not rendered in reliance ii])on, or in exchange for. the promise; thus, where one man voluntarily rescues aiiother's property from loss, and the second party prom- ises to pay therefor, that promise cannot be sued upon even though made in writing. So a promise to reward another for performing his legal duty cannot be sued upon, since the performance of a legal duty is not the surrender of .a right or any detriment in a legal sense. Thus, if a tax- payer promises to pay a policeman for guarding his house, it is held that, since it is the police- man's duty to guard the public's property, there has been no real consideration and no legal con- tract, and the promise of a debtor to pay his debt is not a consideration for a contract, as the promisor is already under a legal obligation to pay his debt. If, however, the promise is made after the debt is barred by the statute of limi- tations, the promise has the effect of reviving the obligation, and may be sued upon although no consideration is given for it. This is anoma- lous. The law takes no account of the adequacy of consideration if the contract is made in good faith; but if inadequacy results from fraud or mistake, the contract may be rendered void or voidable according to the circumstances of the case. If the consideration given is contrary to public policy, or is a promise to do an illegal act, the contract based therein is illegal and void. If the consideration be illegal only in part, still the contract is void unless it is pos- sible to separate the illegal and the legal so that the one may be thrown out as void and the other enforced. Failure by one party to a contract to jjerform his contract is commonly, though errone- ously, stated to be failure of consideration. The effect of a true failure of consideration is to prevent the formation of a contract. See Con- tract: Mistake: Fraud. CONSIGNMENT (from Fr. consiqner, to consign, from T.at. coiisiqitnre, to seal, from com-, together -(- signare. to sign, from sirinum, sign). In mercantile law: (1) A quantity of goods de-
