CUSTARD APPLE

A term applied in the West Indies to the fruit of the Anona reticulata. CUSTOM (Fr. coutume), in Law, signifies generally a right or law not written, but established by long usage. To render a custom valid it has been said tliat the following qualities are requisite: — 1. Antiquity; i. c. that it shall have been used as far back as time of legal memory, that is, the first year of Richard I. 2. Continuance without interruption; 3. Without dispute. 4. It must be reasonable; and 5. Certain. 6. Compulsory. 7. Customs must be consistent with each other. Customs in derogation of the common law must be construed strictly. General customs, relating to all England, are determinable by the judges; but local customs by a jury. An exception to this rule is to be found in the Custom of the City cf London, which, if questioned, is established by certificate of the mayor and aldermen; with the exception of those customs from which the corporation itself claims a benefit. Customs (coutumes), in the law of France, were the laws relating both to moveable and immoveable property peculiar to different districts of the kingdom before. the Revolution. Districts governed by customs were commonljf termed pays coutumiers, in contradistinction to the remamder of the realm, which being under the civil law was termed pays de droit Romain. The pays coutumiers embraced all the north of France. The valid coutumes were estimated at \AQ general, or comprehending districts, and 360Zoca/, belonging to towns and places; but •the enumeration was not. exact. The coutume de Paris was the most important of all; and it was a generally recognized principle that when a case was unprovided for by local custom, that of Paris was to be applied in aid. Works containing the customary law of a particular district are styled Coutumiers. CUSTOMARY FREEHOLD, in Law, is a superior kind of copyhold; the tenant holding, as it is expre ed, by copy of court roll, but not at the will of the lord. See Coi' YHOLD. [s. 322]