Debenture

“ In general the term debenture in British usage designates any security issued by companies other than their shares, including, therefore, what are in the United States commonly called bonds. When used in the United States debenture generally designates an instrument secured by a floating charge junior to other charges secured by fixed mortgages, or, specif., one of a series of securities secured by a group of securities held in trust for the benefit of the debenture holders. ”

“ Collector of Newbern.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the collector of the district of Newbern be authorized to grant a debenture or debentures for the drawback of the said duties: in like manner, and under the same regulations, as are provided by the act, intituled 1795, ch. 18.“An act making further provision in cases of drawbacks,” for goods, wares or merchandise exported from the United States, after the last day of March next. ”

“ On the other hand, certain assurances and instruments are expressly exempt by statute from the definition: marriage settlements, assignments of ships, assignments for the benefit of creditors, bills of lading and dock warrants, and by the act of 1882, debentures and debenture stock of a company. ”

“ The vast and ever-increasing multitude whose incomes are derived from national, or provincial, or municipal debts, or who are shareholders or debenture-holders in great commercial and industrial undertakings, have little or no practical control over, or interest in, those from whom their fortunes are derived. ”

“ Registered debentures are transferable only in the books of the company. Debentures to bearer are negotiable instruments and pass by delivery. Coupons for interest are attached. Sometimes debentures to bearer are made exchangeable for registered debentures and vice versa. ”

“ If there is a trust deed, the trustees may appoint a receiver of the property comprised in the security, and they may also sell under the powers contained in the deed, or under § 25 of the Conveyancing Act 1881. Sometimes, where there is no trust deed, similar powers—to appoint a receiver and to sell—are inserted in the conditions indorsed on the debentures.
2. The remedies with the aid of the court are— (a) an action by one or more debenture-holders on behalf of all for a receiver and to realize the security ”

“ The debentures I bought were of such men as bought to sell againe; I paid prizes, as if I had been necessitated to buy. And as for refusing to sett out lands, I say that all debentures that possibly could bee drawne, by proclamation after proclamation, within about ten moneths time, were satisfyed in the freest, most generall, and regular way imaginable. Besides, Sir, there were four Commissioners for setting out lands, any two making a quorum; so that in effect there were three quorums of Commissioners besides my selfe, any whereoff could have sett out lands without me. ”

“ Can there be duties to one's self, which are of absolute obligation? Duties are dues, and they imply two parties,—one who owes them, and one to whom they are due,—the debtor and the creditor. But the creditor may, at his will, cancel the debt, and release the debtor. In selfward duties, then, why may I not, as creditor, release myself as debtor? Why may I not—so long as I violate no obligation to others—be, at my own pleasure, idle or industrious, self-indulgent or abstinent, frivolous or serious? Why, if life seem burdensome to me, may I not relieve myself of the trouble of living? ”

“ But the common law was not settled till the nineteenth century and we find the chancellors using consideration frequently to mean not equivalent but any reason for making the promise and thus making it synonymous with the civilian's causa. The so-called meritorious consideration, consideration of blood and of love and affection, and the cases of promises sustained by moral obligation of a debtor to secure his creditor, of a husband to settle property on his wife and of a parent to provide for a child, show the idea of causa at work in equity. ”

“ Every disposition of lands, whether by deed or devise hereafter made, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, shall be directly to the person in whom the right to the possession and the profits shall be intended to be vested, and not to any other, to the use of or in trust for such person; and if made to one or more persons, in trust for or to the use of another, no estate or interest, legal or equitable, shall vest in the trustee.' 2 How. ”

“ We must be true to our words under all circumstances and to all persons; if we borrow, we must pay our debt; if we cannot possibly do it, we must give our creditor the best satisfaction we can. When we meet with one another, and agree to carry out certain measures, let us do it, or not promise to do it. ”

“ The cession of the ancient proprietor, especially when joined to conquest, is likewise esteemed a very good title. The general bond of obligation which unites us to government is the interest and necessities of society, and this obligation is very strong. The determination of it to this or that particular prince or form of government is frequently more uncertain and dubious. ”

“ The chief of these are the following: the relation of vassal and lord; the principle that every holder of land is a tenant and not an owner, until the highest rank is reached, sometimes even the conception rules in that rank; that the tenure by which a thing of value is held is one of honourable service, not intended to be economic, but moral and political in character; the principle of mutual obligations of loyalty, protection and service binding together all the ranks of this society from the highest to the lowest ”

“ In former Days, the Nobility possess'd great Estates, and had powerful Dependencies; the Landed Interest was theirs, and almost all the Possession was their own; the Commons held under them either in Vassalage or Villainage, either as Vassals, Tenants, Cottagers, or Servants; and then it was indeed beneath a Man of Quality to match among the Vassals.
But then two Things are to be observed, which have happened in England since that Time.
i. The Commons have grown rich by Industry and Commerce. ”

“ The Consequence is this, that the Nobility sell their Estates, and the Commons buy them: And so the Landed Interest is separated; and the Commons possess, I believe, ten Parts of twelve, hardly leaving the other two Parts of twelve to the better guided Nobility.
Then, Madam, of these whom we still call the Commons, great Numbers of them are of noble Families; for the Gentry bringing their Sons up to Industry and Trade, they have found the Sweets of Commerce in such a manner, that they have raised innumerable Families out of nothing ”

“ In England, courts of equity adhere to the principle which has its origin in the Roman law, 'that a trustee shall not profit by his trust,' and therefore that a trustee shall have no allowance for his care and trouble. ”

“ It recites that they had several times refused ‘such proffers of benefit as he thought good out of his own private charity and conscience to tender to them,’ and that, though neither by law nor equity could he be compelled to give them any consideration at all for their pretended interest, his trustees were to pay them a sum amounting to the value of a twenty-one years' lease of the lands they held in 1635. ”

“ The qualities of mercy and practicality have made equity the instrument for nice adjustment and reconciliation between the public interest and private needs as well as between competing private claims. ”

“ It is by our own labor, and with our own materials, that our internal improvements are constructed, but our British-law-trained legislators have enacted that we shall be in debt for them, paying interest, but never to become owners. ”

“ Provided always, and it is my will and intention, that my executors, until the said charter, and afterward the corporation, to be hereby incorporated, shall out of the yearly profits of the said lands when purchased, and out of the yearly income of my said fortune devised to my executors as aforesaid, until such purchase be made, have power to reimburse themselves for all such sums of their own money, as they shall necessarily expend in the execution of this trust. ”

“ Moreover we have granted for us and our heirs as well to archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, and other folk of holy Church, as also to earls, barons, and to all the commonalty of the land, that for no business from henceforth we shall take of our realm such manner of aids, tasks, nor prises, but by the common assent of all the realm, and for the common profit thereof, saving the ancient aids and prises due and accustomed. ”

“ Render therefore to all their dues, especially to magistrates, for this refers to what goes before; and likewise to all with whom we have to do. To be just is to give to all their due, to give every body his own. What we have we have as stewards; others have an interest in it, and must have their dues. ”

“ But some kinds of law have already been established by certain custom, such as those relating to covenants, equity, formal decisions. A covenant is that which is agreed upon between two parties, because it is considered to be so just that it is said to be enforced by justice, equity is that which is equal to all men, a formal decision is that by which something has been established by the declared opinion of some person or persons authorized to pronounce one. ”

“ Or, to pursue the analogy further; suppose the purchase money unpaid, and a covenant by indenture of the tenant to pay the money to the vendor and his heirs, and even to hold the land charged with the payment, would a devise of the manor carry the money so reserved, or the devise of the debt carry the freehold in the land sold? ”

“ Ministers will serve their sovereign for the profit of which they cherish the thought; sons will serve their fathers, and younger brothers will serve their elder brothers, from the same consideration - and the issue will be, that, abandoning benevolence and righteousness, sovereign and minister, father and son, younger brother and elder, will carry on all their intercourse with this thought of profit cherished in their breasts. ”

“ All these privileges and exemptions were matters of negociation between the borough and the king or the lord of the manor to be bought for money, or for political support, or for loans in time of need. [422] The people everywhere simply won such advantages as time and opportunity allowed, and secured benefits which were measured by the grace of the king, or by the price they could afford to pay, or by the show of resistance they could make to their lord. ”

“ Yet one is bond, and the other free, since it is in the power of the master, or of his heir, or of his assignee, at any time, to reclaim the services of the one who was not legally manumitted, and reduce him again to the condition of slavery. ”

“ The incumbent for the time being, whether of an ancient or new parish, has a freehold interest for his life, if he so long remains incumbent, in the possessions of the benefice, and for the purpose of holding them is a corporation sole, with a continuous succession in himself and all future incumbents. ”

“ The great men held a large portion of the community in dependence by means of advances at enormous usury. The law of debt, framed by creditors, and for the protection of creditors, was the host horrible that has ever been known among men. ”

“ In 1830 he executed a trust disposition, in which, after making some minor provisions, he devoted the residue of his estate to form an endowment ‘for the maintenance, education, and outfit of young people whose parents have either died without leaving sufficient funds for that purpose, or who from innocent misfortune during their own lives are unable to give suitable education to their own children.’ The trustees were invested with very ample powers as to the administration of the estate. ”

“ To respect the rights of property in others, to fulfil the obligations correlative to those rights, is one thing; to make a good use of property, to be justly generous and generously just in giving and receiving, is another, and that may properly be treated as a special kind of virtue which appears in the duly blended prudence, equity, and generosity of the ideal man of business. Another special kind will be that which appears in family relations ”

“ If I approach, for instance, the works of one of our great Trusts, purchase it with public money, bestow, even as a gift, the shares thereof to its workmen, can I count upon any tradition of property in their midst which will prevent their squandering the new wealth? ”

“ Wealth ownership and the exercise of authority, concentrated in one person or family, created a basic division in the community between those whose livelihood depended on their labor and those whose income was determined by their ownership of property and their exercise of authority. ”

“ I should recommend your first stating any legacies you may wish to leave to dependents—for instance, Mrs. Campbell, or Malcolm, and then bequeathing the whole bulk of your estates to some one person— some young person likely to outlive you, and upon whom you can depend to carry out all your plans and intentions, and make as good a use of your fortune as you would have done yourself. That is my principle as to choice of an heir. There are many instances in which blood is not thicker than water, and a friend by election is often worthier and dearer, besides being closer than any relative. ”

“ There is, of course, the ill-defined and scarcely definable item of expenditure under the general head of Gentility, Dignity, Distinction, Magnificence, or whatever term may seem suitable to designate that consumption of goods and services that goes to maintain the high repute of the Court and to keep the underlying gentlefolk in countenance. ”