HUSTINGS¹, Engl. law. The name of a court held before the lord mayor and aldermen of London; it is the principal and supreme² court of the city., See 2 Inst. 327; St. Armand, Hist. Essay on the Legisl. Power of England, 75.

HYDROMETER. An instrument for measuring the density³ of fluids; being immersed in fluids, as in water, brine, beer, brandy, &c., it determines the proportion of their densities⁴, or their specific gravities, and thence their qualities.

2. By, the Act of Congress of January 12, 1825, 3 Story's' Laws U. S. 1976, the secretary of the treasury⁵ is authorized⁶, under the direction of the president of the United States, to adopt and substitute such hydrometer as he may deem best calculated to promote the public interest, in lieu of that now prescribed by law, for the purpose of ascertaining⁷ the proof of liquors; and that after such adoption⁸ and substitution, the duties imposed by law upon distilled⁹ spirits shall be levied¹⁰, collected and paid, according to the proof ascertained¹¹ by any hydrometer so substituted and adopted.

HYPOBOLUM, civ. law. The name of the bequest¹² or legacy¹³ given by the hushand to his wife, at his death, above her dowry. Techn. Dict. h. t.

HYPOTHECATION¹⁴, civil law. This term is used principally in the civil law; it is defined to be a right which a creditor¹⁵ has over a thing belonging to another, and which consists in the power to cause it to be sold, in order to be paid his claim out of the proceeds.

2. There are two species of hypothecation, one called pledge, pignus, and, the other properly denominated hypothecation. Pledge is that species , of hypothecation which is contracted by the delivery of the debtor¹⁶ to the creditor, of the thing hypothecated. Hypothecation, properly so called, is that which is contracted without delivery of the thing hypothecated. 2 Bell's Com. 25, 5th ed.

3. Hypothecation is further divided into general and special when the debtor hypothecates to his creditor all his estate and property, which he has, or may have, the hypothecation is general; when the hypothecation is confined to a particular estate, it is special.

4. Hypothecations are also distinguished¹⁷ into conventional, legal, and tacit. 1. Conventional hypothecations are those which arise by the agreement of the parties. Dig. 20, 1, 5.

5. - 2. Legal hypothecation is that which has not been agreed upon by any contract, express or implied; such as arises from the effect of judgments¹⁸ and executions.

6. - 3. A tacit, which is also a legal hypothecation, is that which the law gives in certain cases, without the consent of the parties, to secure the creditor; such as, 1st. The lien¹⁹ which the public treasury has over the property of public debtors²⁰. Code, 8, 15, 1. 2d. The landlord has a lien on the goods in the house leased, for the payment of his rent. Dig. 20, 2, 2; Code, 8, 15, 7, 3d. The builder has a lien, for his bill, on the house he has built. Dig. 20, 1. 4th, The pupil has a lien on the property of the guardian²¹ for the balance of his account. Dig. 46, 6, 22; Code, 6, 37, 20. 5th. There is hypothecation of the goods of a testator for the security of a legacy he has given. Code, 6, 43, 1.

7. In the common law, cases of hypothecation, in the strict sense of the civil law, that is, of a pledge of a chattel²², without possession by the pledgee, are scarcely to be found; cases of bottomry bonds and claims for seamen's wages, against ships are the nearest approach to it; but these are liens²³ and privileges rather than hypothecations. Story, Bailm. §288. It seems that chattels²⁴ not in existence, though they cannot be pledged, can be hypothecated, so that the lien will attach, as soon as the chattel has been prodced. 14 Pick. R. 497. Vide, generally, Poth. de l'Hypoth´que; Poth. Mar²⁵. Contr. translated by Cushing, note. 26, p. 145; Commercial Code of France, translated by Rodman, note 52, p. 351; Merl. R´pertoire, mot Hypoth´que, where the subject is fully²⁶ considered; 2 Bro. Civ. Law, 195; Ayl. Pand. 524; 1 Law Tracts²⁷, 224; Dane's Ab. h. t.; Abbott on Ship. Index, h. t.; 13 Ves. 599; Bac. Ab. Merchant, &c. G; Civil Code of Louis. tit. 22, where this sort of security bears the name of mortgage. (q. v.)

HYPOTHEQUE, French law. Properly, the right acquired by the creditor over the immovable property which has been assigned to him by his debtor, as security for his debt, although he be not placed in possession of it. The hypotheque might arise in two was. 1. By the express agreement of the debtor, which was the conventional hypotheque. 2. By disposition²⁸ of law, which was the implied or Iegal hypotheque. This was nothing but a lien or privilege which the creditor enjoyed of being first paid out of the land subjected to this incumbrance. For example, the landlord had hypotheque on the goods of his tenant²⁹ or others, while on the premises³⁰ let. A mason had the same on the house he built. A pupil or a minor³¹ on the land of his tutor or curator, who had received his money. Domat, Loix Civiles, 1. 3, & 1; 2 Bouv. Inst. 1817.