OBEDIENCE¹. The performance of a command.

2. Officers who obey the command of their superiors, having jurisdiction² of the subject-matter, are not responsible for their acts. A sheriff may therefore justify³ a trespass⁴ under an execution, when the court has jurisdiction, although irregularly issued. 3 Chit. Pr. 75; Ham. N. P. 48.

3. A child, an apprentice⁵, a pupil, a mariner⁶, and a soldier, owe respectively obedience to the lawful⁷ commands of the parent, the master, the teacher, the captain of the ship, and the military officer having command; and in case of disobedience, submission⁹ may be enforced by correction. (q. v.)

OBIT. That particular solemnity or office for the dead, which the Roman Ca- tholic church appoints to be read or performed over the body of a deceased member of that communion before interment; also the office which, upon the anniversary of his death, was frequently used as a commemoration or observance of the day. 2 Cro. 51; Dyer, 313.

OBLATION¹⁰, eccl. law. In a general sense the property which accrues¹¹ to the church by any right or title whatever; but, in a more limited sense, it is that which the priest receives at the altar, at the celebration of the eucharist. Ayl. Par⁸. 392.

OBLIGATION. In its general and most extensive sense, obligation is synony- mous with duty. In a more technical meaning, it is a tie which binds¹² us to pay or to do something agreeably to the laws and customs of the country in which the obligation is made. Just. Inst. 1. 3, t. 14. The term obligation also signifies the instrument or writing by which the contract is witnessed. And in another sense, an obligation still subsists¹⁴, although the civil obligation is said to be a bond containing a penalty, with a condition annexed¹⁶ for the payment of money, performance of covenants¹⁷ or the like; it differs from a bill, which is generally without a penalty or condition, though it may be obligatory¹⁸. Co. Litt. 172. It is also defined to be a deed whereby a man binds himself under a penalty to do a thing. Com. Dig. Obligation, A. The word obligation, in its most technical signification, ex vi termini, imports a sealed instrument. 2 S. & R. 502; 6 Verm. 40; 1 Blackf. 241; Harp¹⁹. R. 434; 2 Porter, 19; 1 Bald. 129. See 1 Bell's Com. b. 3, p. 1, c. 1, page 293; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.

2. Obligations are divided into imperfect obligations, and perfect obligations.

3. Imperfect obligations are those which are not binding²⁰ on us as between man and man, and for the non-performance of which we are accountable to God only; such as charity or gratitude²¹. In this sense an obligation is a mere²² duty. Poth. Ob. art. Prel. n. 1.

4. A perfect obligation is one which gives a right to another to require us to give him something or not to do something. These obligations are either natural or moral, or they are civil.

5. A natural or moral obligation is one which cannot be enforced by action, but which is binding on the party who makes it, in conscience and according to natural justice. As for instance, when the action is barred by the act of limitation, a natural obligation is extinguished. 5 Binn. 573. Although natural obligations cannot be enforeed by action, they have the following effect: 1. No suit will lie to recover back what has been paid, or given in compliance²³ with a natural obligation. 1 T. R. 285; 1 Dall. 184, 2. A natural obligation is a sufficient consideration for a new contract. 5 Binn. 33; 2 Binn. 591; Yelv. 41, a, n. 1; Cowp. 290; 2 Bl. Com. 445; 3 B. & P. 249, n.; 2 East, 506; 3 Taunt²⁴. 311; 5 Taunt. 36; Yelv. 41, b. note; 3 Pick. 207 Chit. Contr. 10.

6. A civil obligation is one which has a binding operation in law, vinculum juris, and which gives to the obligee²⁵ the right of enforcing it in a court of justice; in other words, it is an engagement binding on the obligor. 12 Wheat. It:. 318, 337; 4 Wheat. R. 197.

7. Civil obligations are divided into express and implied, pure. and conditional²⁶, primitive²⁷ and secondary, principal and accessory, absolute and alternative, determinate and indeterminate, divisible and indivisible, single and penal¹⁵, and joint²⁸ and several. They are also purely²⁹ personal, purely real, and both real and mixed at the same time.

8. Express or conventional obligations are those by which the obligor binds himself in express terms to perform his obligation.#p#副标题#e#

9. An implied obligation is one which arises by operation of law; as, for example, if I send you daily a loaf of bread, without any express authority, and you make use of it in your family, the law raises an obligation on your part to pay me the value of the bread.

10. A pure or simple obligation is one which is not suspended by any condition, either because it has been contacted without condition, or, having been contracted with one, it has been fulfilled.

11. A conditional obligation is one the execution of which is suspended by a condition which has not been accomplished³⁰, and subject to which it has been contracted.

12. A primitive obligation, which in one sense may also be called a principal obligation, is one which is contracted with a design that it should, itself, be the first fulfilled.

13. A secondary obligation is one which is contrasted, and is to be performed, in case the primitive cannot be. For example, if I sell you my house, I bind¹³ myself to give a title, but I find I cannot, as the title is in another, then my secondary obligation is to pay you damages for my non-perform- ance of my obligation.

14. A principal obligation is one which is the most important object of the engagement of the contracting parties.

15. An accessory obligation is one which is dependent on the principal obligation; for example, if I sell you a house and lot of ground, the principal obligation on my part is to make you a title for it; the accessory obligation is to deliver you all the title papers which I have relating to it; to take care of the estate till it is delivered to you, and the like.

16. An absolute obligation is one which gives no alternative to the obligor, but he is bound to fulfil it according to his engagement.

17. An alternative obligation is, where a person engages to do, or to give several things in such a manner that the payment of one will acquit³¹ him of all; as if A agrees to give B, upon a sufficient consideration, a horse, or one hundred dollars. Poth. Obl. Pt. 2, c. 3, art. 6, No.. 245.

18. In order to constitute an alternative obligation, it is necessary that two or more things should be promised disjunctively; where they are promised conjunctively, there are as many obligations as the things which are enumerated³², but where they are in the alternative, though they are all due, there is but one obligation, which may be discharged by the payment of any of them.

19. The choice of performing one of the obligations belongs to the obligor, unless it is expressly agreed that all belong to the creditor³³. Dougl. 14; 1 Lord Raym. 279; 4 N. S. 167. If one of the acts is prevented by the obligee, or the act of God, the obligor is discharged from both. See 2 Evans' Poth. Ob. 52 to 54; Vin. Ab. Condition, S b; and articles Conjunctive; Disjunctive; Election.

20. A determinate obligation, is one which has for its object a certain thing; as an obligation to deliver a certain horse named Bucephalus. In this case the obligation can only be discharged by delivering the identical horse.

21. An indeterminate obligation is one where the obligor binds himself to deliver one of a certain species; as, to deliver a horse, the delivery of any horse will discharge the obligation.

22. A divisible obligation is one which being a unit may nevertheless be lawfully³⁴ divided with or without the consent of the parties. It is clear it may be divided by consent, as those who made it, may modify or change it as they please. But some obligations may be divided without the consent of the obligor; as, where a tenant³⁵ is bound to pay two hundred dollars a year rent to his landlord, the obligation is entire, yet, if his landlord dies and leaves two sons, each will be entitled to one hundred dollars; or if the landlord sells one undivided half of the estate yielding the rent, the purchaser will be entitled to receive one hundred dollars, and the seller the other hundred. See Apportionment.

23. An indivisible obligation is one which is not susceptible³⁶ of division; as, for example, if I promise to pay you one hundred dollars, you cannot assign one half of this to another, so as to give him a right of action against me for his share. See Divisible.

24. A single obligation is one without any penalty; as, where I simply promise to pay you one hundred dollars. This is called a single bill, when it is under seal.

25. A penal obligation is one to which is attached a penal clause which is to be enforeed, if the principal obligation be not performed. In general equity³⁷ will relieve against a penalty, on the fulfilment of the principal obligation. See Liquidated³⁸ damages; Penalty.

26. A joint obligation is one by which several obligors promise to the obligee to perform the obligation. When the obligation is only joint and the obligors do not promise separately to fulfil their engagement they must be all sued, if living, to compel the performance; or, if any be dead, the survivors³⁹ must all be sued. See Parties to actions.

27. A several obligation is one by which one individual, or if there be more, several individuals bind themselves separately to perform the engagement. In this case each obligor may be sued separately, and if one or more be dead, their respective executors may be sued. See Parties to actions.

28. The obligation is, purely personal when the obligor binds himself to do a thing; as if I give my note for one thousand dollars, in that case my person only is bound, for my property is liable for the debt only while it belongs to me, and, if I lawfully transfer it to a third person, it is discharged.

29. The obligation is personal in another sense, as when the obligor binds himself to do a thing, and he provides his heirs and executors shall not be bound; as, for example, when he promises to pay a certain sum yearly during his life, and the payment is to cease at his death.

30. The obligation is real when real estate, and not the person, is liable to the obligee for the performance. A familiar example will explain this: when an estate owes an easement, as a right of way, it is the thing and not the owner who owes the easement. Another instance occurs when a person buys an estate which has been mortgaged, subject to the mortgage, he is not liable for the debt, though his estate is. In these cases the owner has an interest only because he is seised of the servient estate, or the mortgaged premises⁴⁰, and he may discharge himself by abandoning or parting with the property.

31. The obligation is both personal and real when the obligor has bound himself, and pledged his estate for the fulfilment of his obligation.