CATCHPOLE, officer. A name formerly¹ given to a sheriff's deputy, or to a constable², or other officer whose duty it is to arrest persons. He was a sort of serjeant. The word is not now in use as an official designation. Minshew ad verb.

CAUSA MATRIMONII PRAELOCUTI, Engl. law. An obsolete³ writ⁴, which lies when a woman gives land to a man in fee simple, or for a less estate, to the intent that he should marry her and he refuses upon request. New. Nat. Bre. 455.

CAUSE, civ. law. This word has two meanings. 1. It signifies the delivery of the thing, or the accomplishment⁵ of the act which is the object of a convention. Datio vel factum, quibus ab una parte conventio, impleri caepta est. 6 Toull. n. 13, 166. 2. it is the consideration or motive⁶ formakinga contract. An obligation without a cause, or with a false or unlawful cause, has no effect; but an engagement is not the less valid⁸, though the cause be not expressed. The cause is illicit⁹, when it is forbidden by law, when it is contra bones mores¹⁰, or public order. Dig. 2, 14, 7, 4; Civ. Code of Lo. a. 1887-1894 Code Civil, liv. 3, c. 2, s. 4, art. 1131-1133; Toull. liv. 3, tit. 3, c. 2, s. 4.

CAUSE, contra torts, crim. That which produces an effect.

2. In considering a contract, an injury, or a crime, the law for many purposes looks to the immediate¹¹, and not to any remote cause. Bac. Max. Reg. 1; Bac. Ab. Damages, E; Sid. 433; 2 Taunt¹². 314. If the cause be lawful⁷, the party will be justified¹³; if unlawful, he will be condemned¹⁴. The following is an example in criminal law of an immediate and remote cause. If Peter, of malice¹⁵ prepense, should discharge a pistol at Paul, and miss him, and then cast away the pistol and fly and, being pursued by Paul, he turn round, and kill him with a dagger¹⁶, the law considers the first as the impulsive¹⁷ cause, and Peter would be guilty of murder. But if Peter, with his dagger drawn¹⁸, had fallen down, and Paul in his haste had fallen upon it and killed himself, the cause of Paul's death would have been too remote to charge Peter as the murderer. Id.

3. In cases of insurance, the general rule is that the immediate and not the remote cause of the loss is to be considered; causa proximo non remota s pedatur. This rule may, in some cases, apply to carriers. Story, Bailm. 515.

4. For the reach of contracts, the contractor¹⁹ is liable for the immediate effects of such breach²⁰, but not for any remote cause, as the failure of a party who was to receive money, and did not receive it, in consequence of which he was compelled to stop payment. 1 Brock. Cir²¹. C. Rep. 103. See Remote; and also Domat, liv. 3, t. 5, s. 2, n. 4; Toull. liv. 3, n. 286; 6 Bing. R. 716; 6 Ves. 496; Pal²². Ag. by Lloyd, 10; Story, Ag. 200; 3 Sumn. R. 38.