SATISFACTION, reparation for an injury or offence; pay ment, pecuniary or otherwise, of a debt or obligation; particularly, in law, an equitable doctrine of much importance. In English law, as between strangers, it was laid down in Talbot v. Duke of Shrewsbury, 1714, Pr. Ch. 394, that where a debtor bequeaths to his creditor a legacy as great as, or greater than the debt, the legacy shall be deemed a satisfaction of the debt. If the debt was incurred after the execution of the will, there is no satisfac tion, nor is there where the will giving the legacy contains a direction to pay debts. As between parent and child, the doctrine operates (a) in the satisfaction of legacies by portions, and (b) of portions by legacies. In the case of (a), it has been laid down that where a parent, or one acting in loco parentis, gives a legacy to a child, without stating the purpose for which he gives it, it will be understood as a portion; and if the father afterwards advance a portion on the marriage, or preferment in life, of that child, though of less amount, it is a satisfaction of the whole, or in part. This application of the doctrine is based on the maxim
that "equality is equity," as is also the rule (b) that where a legacy bequeathed by a parent, or one in loco parentis, is as great as, or greater than, a portion or provision previously secured to the child, a presumption arises that the legacy was intended by the parent as a complete satisfaction. In the United States some jurisdictions refuse to presume that a gift to a creditor is in tended as a satisfaction of a debt. The testator's intention that the bequest shall operate as a satisfaction of the debt must appear upon the face of the will. A few States have abolished the doc trine of satisfaction by statute. (See ACCORD and LEGACY. For the theological meaning see ATONEMENT.)