DEBENTURE

A custom-house certificate entitling the exporter of goods to a drawback or bounty. Also, an instrument in use in some government departments, by which government is charged to pay to a creditor or his a igns the sum found due on auditing his accounts. DEBRl'S. (Fr.) In Geology, the fragments of rocks, . DEBT, in Law, is a species of contract, whereby a cJiose in action, or right to a certain sum of money, is mutually acquired and lost: usually divided Into debts of record, debts by special contract, and debts by simple contract. A debt of record is a sura which appears to be du» by the evidence of a court of record; such as debt on judgrnent or recognizance. Debt by specialty is where a sum is acknowledged to be due, or becomes clue, by instrument under seal; such as a covenant, bond, . Both these species of debts, being contracted by a man or himself find iiis heirs, attach on his lands and tene31G DECARBONIZATION. ments, and bind them in the hands of his heir or devisee. Debt by simple contract is either by parole or by written obligation unsealed; within which cla fall bills of exchange and promi ory notes. Debt is also a personal action of contract, in which the plaintiff seeks the recovery of.a debt; i. e. a liquidated or certain sum of money alleged to be due to him. See Action. DEBT, [s. 329]