deposit

deposit

1 the actofplacing money with a bank. Thus, a deposit account is a bank account that pays interest but that imposes the requirement of notice (or a penalty in terms of interest) before withdrawal can be effected; a deposit receipt is an acknowledgement by the bank that sums have been deposited and are being held for the account of the depositor; a certificate ofdeposit is a financial instrument providing a similar acknowledgement but where the claim of the depositor is transferable. The acceptance of a deposit in the course of carrying on a deposit-taking business in the UK requires authorization from the Bank of England as competent authority.

2 to place documents with a bank or safety deposit company for safekeeping; or the placing of property with an officer of the court for safekeeping pending litigation.

3 money paid to a person as an earnest or security for the performance of a contract or other obligation. Thus, in contracts for the sale of land, a deposit is regarded not only as part-payment of the purchase price but as a security for the purchaser's due completion of the purchase. In Scotland the position is that the contract is construed to determine the parties’ intentions in making the payment.

4 a deposit of title deeds as security for the repayment of borrowed money has long been held to constitute an equitable mortgage.

5 in Scotland, a contract to place something in the custody of another for reward.

Collins Dictionary of Law © W.J. Stewart, 2006

DEPOSIT, contracts. Usually defined to be a naked bailment of goods to be kept for the bailor, without reward, and to be returned when he shall require it. Jones' Bailm. 36, 117; 1 Bell's Com. 257. See also Dane's Abr. ch. 17, aft. 1, Sec. 3; Story on Bailm. c. 2, Sec. 41. Pothier defines it to be a contract, by which one of the contracting parties gives a thing to another to keep, who is to do so gratuitously, and obliges himself to return it when he shall be requested. Traite du Depot. See Code Civ. tit. 11, c. 1, art. 1915; Louisiana Code, tit. 13, c. 1, art. 2897.
     2. Deposits, in the civil law, are divisible into two kinds; necessary and voluntary. A necessary deposit is such as arises from pressing necessity; as, for instance, in case of a fire, a shipwreck, or other overwhelming calamity; and thence it is called miserabile depositum. Louis. Code 2935. A voluntary deposit is such as arises without any such calamity, from the mere consent or agreement of the parties. Dig. lib. 16, tit. 3, Sec. 2.
     3. This distinction was material in the civil law, in respect to the remedy, for involuntary deposits, the action was only in simplum; in the other in duplum, or two-fold, whenever the depositary was guilty of any default. The common law has made no such distinction, and, therefore, in a necessary deposit, the remedy is limited to damages co-extensive with the wrong. Jones, Bailm. 48.
     4. Deposits are again divided by the civil law into simple deposits, and sequestrations; the former is when there is but one party depositor (of whatever number composed), having a common interest; the latter is where there are two or more depositors, having each a different and adverse interest. See Sequestration.
     5. These distinctions give rise to very different considerations in point of responsibility and rights. Hitherto they do not seem to have been incorporated in the common law; though if cases should arise, the principles applicable to them would scarcely fail of receiving general approbation, at least, so far as they affect the rights and responsibilities of the parties. Cases of judicial sequestration and deposits, especially in courts of chancery and admiralty, may hereafter require the subject to be fully investigated. At present, there have been few cases in which it has been necessary to consider upon whom the loss should fall when the property has perished in the custody of the law. Story on Bailm. Sec. 41-46.
     6. There is another class of deposits noticed by Pothier, and called by him irregular deposits. This arises when a party having a sum of money which he doe's not think safe in his own hands; confides it to another, who is to return him, not the same money, but a like sum when he shall demand it. Poth. Traite du Depot, ch. 3, Sec. 3. The usual deposit made by a person dealing with a bank is of this nature. The depositor, in such case, becomes merely a creditor of the depositary for the money or other thing which he binds himself to return.
     7. This species of deposit is also called an improper deposit, to distinguish it from one that is regular and proper, and which latter is sometimes called a special deposit. 1 Bell's Com. 257-8. See 4 Blackf. R. 395.
     8. There is a kind of deposit which may, for distinction's sake, be called a quasi deposit, which is governed, by the same general rule as common deposits. It is when a party comes lawfully to the possession of another person's property by finding. Under such circumstances, the finder seems bound to the same reasonable care of it as any voluntary depositary ex contractu. Doct. & Stu. Dial. 2, ch. 38; Story on Bailm. Sec. 85; and see Bac. Abr. Bailm. D. See further, on the subject of deposits, Louis. Code, tit. 13; Bac. Abr. Bailment; Digest, depositi vel contra; Code, lib. 4, tit. 34; Inst. lib. 3, tit. 15, Sec. 3; Nov. 73 and 78; Domat, liv. 1, tit. 7, et tom. 2, liv. 3, tit. 1, s. 5, n. 26; 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 1053, et seq.

A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856.