deposit

I

v.

To commit to custody, or to lay down; to place; to put; to let fall (as sediment). Jefferson County ex rel. Grauman v. Jefferson County Fiscal Court, 273 Ky. 674, 117 S.W.2d 918, 924.

To lodge for safe-keeping or as a pledge to intrust to the care of another. White v. Greenlee, 330 Mo. 135, 49 S.W.2d 132, 134

II

n.

A bailment of goods to be kept by the bailee without reward, and delivered according to the object or purpose of the original trust. In general, an act by which a person receives the property of another, binding himself to preserve it and return it in kind. The delivery of chattels by one person to another to keep for the use of the bailor. The giving of the possession of personal property by one person to another, with his consent, to keep for the use, benefit, and safekeeping of the first or of a third person.

Something intrusted to the care of another, either for a permanent or a temporary disposition. Money placed with a person as an earnest or security for the performance of some contract, to be forfeited if the depositor fails in his undertaking. It may be deemed to be part payment, and to that extent may constitute the purchaser the actual owner of the estate. The act of placing money in the custody of a bank or banker, for safety or convenience, to be withdrawn at the will of the depositor or under rules and regulations agreed on.

Also, the money so deposited, or the credit which the depositor receives for it. Deposit, according to its commonly accepted and generally understood meaning among bankers and by the public, includes not only deposits payable on demand and subject to check, but deposits not subject to check, for which certificates, whether interest-bearing or not, may be issued, payable on demand, or on certain notice, or at a fixed future time. A quantity of ore or other mineral substances occurring naturally in the earth; as, a deposit of gold, oil, etc.

See bailment

- earnest money

- escrow

General Classification

According to the classification of the civil law, deposits are of the following several sorts:

(1) Necessary, made upon some sudden emergency, and from some pressing necessity; as, for instance, in case of a fire, a shipwreck, or other overwhelming calamity, when property is confided to any person whom the depositor may meet without proper opportunity for reflection or choice, and thence it is called "miserabile depositum."

(2) Voluntary, which arises from the mere consent and agreement of the parties. The common law has made no such division. The civilians again divide deposits into "simple deposits," made by one or more persons having a common interest, and "sequestrations," made by one or more persons, each of whom has a different and adverse interest in controversy touching it; and these last are of two sorts,-"conventional," or such as are made by the mere agreement of the parties without any judicial act; and "judicial," or such as are made by order of a court in the course of some proceeding. Thus, under Louisiana statutes, it is said that the difference between "sequestration" and "deposit" is that the former may have for its object both movable and immovable property, while the latter is confined to movables.

(3) There is another class of deposits called "involuntary," which may be without the assent or even knowledge of the depositor; as lumber, etc., left upon another's land by the subsidence of a flood. An "involuntary" deposit is one made by the accidental leaving or placing of personal property in the possession of any person without negligence on the part of the owner. Another class of deposits is called "irregular," as when a person, having a sum of money which he does not think safe in his own hands, confides it to another, who is to return to him, not the same money, but a like sum when he shall demand it. A regular deposit is a strict or special deposit; a deposit which must be returned in specie; i.e., the thing deposited must be returned.

A quasi deposit is a kind of implied or involuntary deposit, which takes place where a party comes lawfully to the possession of another person's property, by finding it. Particularly with reference to money, deposits are also classed as general or special.

A general deposit is where the money deposited is not itself to be returned, but an equivalent in money (that is, a like sum) is to be returned. It is equivalent to a loan, and the money deposited becomes the property of the depositary.

A special deposit is a deposit in which the identical thing deposited is to be returned to the depositor. The particular object of this kind of deposit is safekeeping. In banking law, this kind of deposit is contrasted with a "general" deposit, as above; but in the civil law it is the antithesis of an "irregular" deposit.

A gratuitous or naked deposit is a bailment of goods to be kept for the depositor without hire or reward on either side, or one for which the depositary receives no consideration beyond the mere possession of the thing deposited.

Properly and originally, all deposits are of this description; for according to the Roman law, a bailment of goods for which hire or a price is to be paid, is not called "depositum" but "locatio." If the owner of the property pays for its custody or care, it is a "locatio custodiae;" if, on the other hand, the bailee pays for the use of it, it is "locatio rei." (See locatio.)

But in the modern law, a gratuitous or naked deposit is distinguished from a "deposit for hire," in which the bailee is to be paid for his services in keeping the article.

There is also a specific deposit, which exists where money or property is given to a bank for some specific and particular purpose, as a note for collection, money to pay a particular note, or property for some other specific purpose.

See also certificate of deposit

- involuntary deposit

- security deposit.

For bank deposit, see bank