non feasance

1 definition found

non feasance - Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) :

  NON FEASANCE, torts, contracts. The non-performance of some act which ought 
  to be performed. 
       2. When a legislative act requires a person to do a thing, its non 
  feasance will subject the party to punishment; as, if a statute require the 
  supervisors of the highways to repair such highways, the neglect to repair 
  them may be punished. Vide 1 Russ. on Cr. 48. 
       3. Mere non-feasance does not imply malice; this is strongly 
  exemplified in the case of a plaintiff, who, having issued a writ of capias 
  against his debtor, afterwards received the debt, and neglected to 
  countermand the writ, in consequence of which the defendant was afterwards 
  arrested. On a suit brought by the former defendant against the former 
  plaintiff, it was held that the law did not impose on the first plaintiff 
  the duty of countermanding his writ. If he had refused to give the 
  countermand when requested, it might have been evidence of malice, but in 
  such case there would have been something beyond mere non-feasance, an 
  actual refusal. 1 B & P. 388; 3 East, R. 314; 2 Bos. & P. 129. 
       4. There is a difference between nonfeasance and misfeasance, (q.v.) 
  or malfeasance. (q.v.) Vide 2 Kent, Com. 443 Story on Bailm. Sec. 9, 165; 2 
  Vin. Ab. 35 1 Hawk. P. C. 13; Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.