ACCEPTANCE, Acceptio, Acceptatio, in matters of Law, refers to agreeing or consenting to some act already done, which, without such consent, might have been undone or rendered invalid.
The acceptance of a donation is necessary for its validity and is a solemnity essential thereto. Acceptance, say the civilians, is the concurrence of the will or choice of the donee, which renders the act complete, and without which the donor may revoke his gift at pleasure. See DONATION, etc.
In beneficiary matters, the canonists hold that the acceptance should be signified at the same time as the resignation and not at an interval. See RESIGNATION.
In common law, acceptance is particularly used for a tacit kind of agreement to what has been done by another. For instance, if Baron and Feme, seized of land in right of the Feme, make a joint lease or feoffment by deed, reserving rent, and the Baron dies and the Feme receives the rent, such receipt is deemed an acceptance and shall make the lease good, so that she shall be barred from bringing the writ cut ill vita. See CUT IN VITA.
In the Roman theology, the manner of receiving or admitting the Pope's constitutions, or the act whereby they are received, is also called acceptance. See CONSTITUTION, BULL, etc.
There are two kinds of acceptances; the one solemn, the other tacit.
The solemn acceptance is a formal act whereby some error or scandal which the Pope condemns is expressly condemned by the acceptor. Infinite disputes and schisms have been raised in the Catholic world, especially in France, on the occasion of the acceptance of the constitution Unigenitus. Many of the French prelates refused to accept it.
When a constitution has been solemnly accepted by those it more immediately relates to, it is supposed to be tacitly accepted by all the other prelates in the Christian world who have cognizance thereof, and this acquiescence is what they call tacit acceptance.
In this sense, France, Poland, etc. tacitly accepted the constitution against the doctrine of Molinos and the Quietists, and Germany, Poland, etc. tacitly accepted the constitution against Jansenius. See MOLINIST, JANSENIST, etc.
Acceptance, in commerce, is particularly understood in respect of bills of exchange. To accept a bill of exchange is to sign or subscribe to it and thereby become the principal debtor of the sum contained therein with an obligation to pay or discharge it at a time prescribed. See BILL OF EXCHANGE.
The acceptance is usually performed by him on whom the bill is drawn, upon its being presented to him by the person in whose behalf it was drawn or his order. While the acceptor is the master of his signature, i.e. before he has returned the accepted bill to the bearer, he may erase his acceptance but not after he has once delivered it. See EXCHANGE.
Bills payable at Sight are not to be accepted; as they are to be acquitted at their first presenting; or, in default of payment, to be protested. In bills drawn for a certain number of days after sight, the acceptance must be dated; in regard the time is to be accounted therefrom. The form of this acceptance is "Accepted such a day," and then the signature.
Bills drawn payable on a day named, or at Usance, or double Usance, need not be dated; Usance being reckoned from the date of the bill itself. On these, it is sufficient to write "Accepted" and the signature.
If the bearer of a bill is contented with an acceptance to be paid in twenty days after sight, where in the bill itself only eight days are expressed; he runs the risk of the twelve additional days; so that if the acceptor fails, he has no remedy against the drawer. And if the bearer content himself to receive a less sum than is expressed, in part, he is to stand the chance of the rest. See PROTEST, ENDORSEMENT, etc.
Acceptation, or Acception, in Grammar, the signification of a word; or the sense wherein it is taken and received. See WORD, etc.
Such a word has several acceptations. In its first and most natural acceptation, it denotes, etc.
