Custom : \Cus"tom\ (k[u^]s"t[u^]m), n. [OF. custume, costume,
Anglo-Norman coustome, F. coutume, fr. (assumed) LL.
consuetumen custom, habit, fr. L. consuetudo, -dinis, fr.
consuescere to accustom, verb inchoative fr. consuere to be
accustomed; con- _ suere to be accustomed, prob. originally,
to make one's own, fr. the root of suus one's own; akin to E.
so, adv. Cf. Consuetude, Costume.]
1. Frequent repetition of the same act; way of acting common
to many; ordinary manner; habitual practice; usage; method
of doing or living.
And teach customs which are not lawful. --Acts xvi.
21.
Moved beyond his custom, Gama said. --Tennyson.
A custom More honored in the breach than the
observance. --Shak.
2. Habitual buying of goods; practice of frequenting, as a
shop, manufactory, etc., for making purchases or giving
orders; business support.
Let him have your custom, but not your votes.
--Addison.
3. (Law) Long-established practice, considered as unwritten
law, and resting for authority on long consent; usage. See
Usage, and Prescription.
Note: Usage is a fact. Custom is a law. There can be no
custom without usage, though there may be usage without
custom. --Wharton.
4. Familiar aquaintance; familiarity. [Obs.]
Age can not wither her, nor custom stale Her
infinite variety. --Shak.
Custom of merchants, a system or code of customs by which
affairs of commerce are regulated.
General customs, those which extend over a state or
kingdom.
Particular customs, those which are limited to a city or
district; as, the customs of London.
Syn: Practice; fashion. See Habit, and Usage.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Custom : \Cus"tom\, v. t. [Cf. OF. costumer. Cf. Accustom.]
1. To make familiar; to accustom. [Obs.] --Gray.
2. To supply with customers. [Obs.] --Bacon.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Custom : \Cus"tom\, v. i.
To have a custom. [Obs.]
On a bridge he custometh to fight. --Spenser.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Custom : \Cus"tom\, n. [OF. coustume, F. coutume, tax, i. e., the
usual tax. See 1st Custom.]
1. The customary toll, tax, or tribute.
Render, therefore, to all their dues: tribute to
whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom. --Rom.
xiii. 7.
2. pl. Duties or tolls imposed by law on commodities,
imported or exported.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Custom : \Cus"tom\, v. t.
To pay the customs of. [Obs.] --Marlowe.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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CUSTOM. A usage which had acquired the force of law. It is, in fact, a lex
loci, which regulates all local or real property within its limits. A
repugnancy which destroys it, must be such as to show it never did exist. 5
T. R. 414. In Pennsylvania no customs have the force of law but those which
prevail throughout the state. 6 Binn. 419, 20.
2. ACustom : derives its force from the tacit consent of the legislature
and the people, and supposes an original, actual deed or agreement. 2 Bl.
Com. 30, 31; 1 Chit. Pr. 283. Therefore, custom is the best interpreter of
laws: optima est legum interpres consuetudo. Dig. 1, 8, 37; 2 Inst. 18. It
follows, therefore, there; can be no custom in relation to a matter
regulated by law. 8 M. R. 309. Law cannot be established or abrogated except
by the sovereign will, but this will may be express or implied and presumed
and whether it manifests itself by word or by a series of facts, is of
little importance. When a custom is public, peaceable, uniform, general,
continued, reasonable and certain, and has lasted "time whereof the memory
of man runneth not to the contrary," it acquires the force of law. And when
any doubts arise as to the meaning of a statute, the custom which has
prevailed on the subject ought to have weight in its construction, for the
manner in which a law has always been executed is one of its modes of
interpretation. 4 Penn. St. Rep. 13.
3. Customs are general or, particular customs. 1. By general customs is
meant the common law itself, by which proceedings and determinations in
courts are guided.
2. Particular customs, are those which affect the inhabitants of some
particular districts only. 1 Bl. Com. 68, 74. Vide 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 121 Bac.
Ab. h.t.; 1 Bl. Com. 76; 2 Bl. Com. 31; 1 Lill. Reg. 516; 7 Vin. Ab. 164;
Com. Dig. h.t.; Nelson's Ab. h.t. the various Amer. Digs. h.t. Ayl. Pand.
15, 16; Ayl. Pareg. 194; Doct. Pl. 201; 3 W. C. C. R. 150; 1 Gilp. 486; Pet.
C. C. R. 220; I Edw. Ch. R. 146; 1 Gall. R. 443; 3 Watts, R. 178; 1 Rep.
Const. Ct. 303, 308; 1 Caines, R. 45; 15 Mass. R. 433; 1 Hill, R. 270;
Wright, R. 573; 1 N. & M. 176; 5 Binn. R. 287; 5 Ham. R. 436; 3 Conn. R. 9;
2 Pet. R. 148; 6 Pet. R. 715; 6 Porter R. 123; 2 N. H. Rep. 93; 1 Hall, R.
612; 1 Harr. & Gill, 239; 1 N. S. 192; 4 L. R. 160; 7 L. R. 529; Id. 215.
Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:
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CUSTOMS. This term is usually applied to those taxes which are payable upon
goods and merchandise imported or exported. Story, Const. Sec. 949; Bac. Ab.
Smuggling.
Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:
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Custom : a tax imposed by the Romans. The tax-gatherers were termed
publicans (q.v.), who had their stations at the gates of cities,
and in the public highways, and at the place set apart for that
purpose, called the "receipt of custom" (Matt.
9: 9; Mark 2:14),
where they collected the money that was to be paid on certain
goods (Matt.17:25). These publicans were tempted to exact more
from the people than was lawful, and were, in consequence of
their extortions, objects of great hatred. The Pharisees would
have no intercourse with them (Matt.5:46, 47; 9:10, 11).
A tax or tribute (q.v.) of half a shekel was annually paid by
every adult Jew for the temple. It had to be paid in Jewish coin
(Matt. 22:17-19; Mark 12:14, 15). Money-changers (q.v.) were
necessary, to enable the Jews who came up to Jerusalem at the
feasts to exchange their foreign coin for Jewish money; but as
it was forbidden by the law to carry on such a traffic for
emolument (Deut. 23:19, 20), our Lord drove them from the temple
(Matt. 21:
12: Mark 11:15).
Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:
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