CAUTĬO

CĂVĒRE. These words are of frequent occurrence, and have a great variety of significations, according to the matter to which they refer. Their general signification is that of security given by one person to another, or security which one person obtains by the advice or a istance of another. The cautio was most frequently a writing, which expre ed the object of the parties to it; accordingly the word cautio came to signify both the instrument ( chirographum or instrumentum ) and the object which it was the purpose of the instrument to secure. Cicero uses the expre ion cautio chirograph i mei . The phrase cavere a liquid alicui expre ed the fact of one person giving security to another as to some particular thing or act. The word cautio was also applied to the release which a debtor obtained from his creditor on satisfying his demand; in this sense cautio is equivalent to a modern receipt; it is the debtor’s security against the same demand being made a second time. Thus cavere ab aliquo signifies to obtain this kind of security. Cavere is also applied to expre the profe ional advice and a istance of a lawyer to his client for his conduct in any legal matter. Cavere and its derivatives are also used to expre the provisions of a law, by which any thing is forbidden or ordered, as in the phrase, Cautum est lege , . It is also used to expre the words in a will, by which a testator declares his wish that certain things should be done after his death.