DEMAND. A claim ; a legal obligation.
Demand is a word of art of an extent greater in its signification than any other word except claim. Coke, Litt. 291; 2 Hill, N. Y. 220 ; 9 Serg. & R. Penn. 124 ; 6 Watts & S. Penn. 226.
A release of all demands is, in general, a release of all covenants, real or personal, conditions, whether broken or not, annui ties, recognizances, obligations, contracts, and the like, 3 Penn. 120; 2 Hill, N. Y. 228 ; but does not discharge rent before it is doe, if it • be a rent incident to the reversion for the rent was not only due, but the consideration —the future enjoyment of the lands—for which the rent was to be given was not exe cuted. 1 Sid. 141; 1 Lev. 99. 3 id. 274 ; Bacon, Abr. Release, I. See 10 Coke, 128 ; 23 Pick. Mass. 295; 7 Md. 375.
In Practice. A requisition or request to do a particular thing specified under a claim of right on the part of the person re questing.
2. In causes of action arising ex contractu, it is frequently necessary, to secure to the party all his rights and to enable him to bring an action, that he ahould make a de mand upon the party bound to perform the contract or discharge the obligation. Thus, where property is sold to be paid for on deli very, a demand must be made and proved on trial before bringing an action for non-deli very, 5 Term, 409; 3 Mees. & W. Exch. 254 ; 3 Price. Exch. 58; 1 Tayl. No. C. 149 ; but not if the seller has incapacitated himself from delivering them, 10 East, 359; 5 Barnew. & Ald. 712 ; 2 Bibb, Ky. 280 ; 1 Vt. 25 ; 4 Mass. 474 ; 6 id. 61; 16 id. 3 Wend. N. Y.556: 9 Johns. N. Y. 361; 2 Me. 308; 5 Munf. Va. 1; and this rule and exception apply to ou tracts for marriage. 2 Dowl. & It. 55; 1 Chitty, Pract. 57, note (n), 438, note (e). A demand of rent is necessary re-entry for non-payment. See RE-ENTRY. No de maud is necessary on a promissory note be fore bringing an action in general ' • but alter a tender demand must be made of the sum tendered. 1 Camph. 181. 474 ; 1 Stark. 323. See PAYMENT ; Parsons, Notes & B.
3. In cases arising ex delicto, a demand is frequently necessary. Thus, when the wife, apprentice, or servant of one person has been harbored by another, the proper course is to make a demand of restoration before an ac tion brought, in order to constitute the party a wilful wrong-doer, unlets the plaintiff can prove an original illegal enticing away. 2
Lev. 63; Willes, 582; 1 Peake, Cas. 55; 5 East, 39; 6 Term, 652; 4 J. B. Moore, 12.
So, too, in cases where the taking of goods is lawful but their subsequent detention becomes illegal, it is absolutely necessary, in order to secure sufficient evidence of a conversion on the trial, to give a formal no tice of the owner's right to the property and possession, and to make a formal demand in writing of the delivery of such possession to the owner. See TROYER ; CONVERSION. And when a nuisance has been erected or continued by a man on his own land, it is advisable, par ticularly in the case of a private nuisance, to give the party notice, and request him to re move it, either before an entry is made for the purpose of abating it or an action is commenced against the wrongdoer; and a demand is always indispensable in cases of a continuance of a nuisance originally created by another person. 2 Barnew. & C. 302 ; Croke Jac. 555 ; 1 East, 111 ; 5 Coke, 100, 101 ; 2 Phillipps, Ev. 8, 18, n., 119; 5 Viner, Abr. 506: 1 Ayliffe, Pand. 497; Bacon, Abr. Rent, I.
4. In cases of contempts, as where an order to pay money or to do any other thing has been made a rule of court, a demand for the payment of the money or performance of the thing must be made before an attachment will be issued for a contempt. 2 Dowl. Part. Cas. 338, 448 ; 4 id. 86,114 ; 1 Crompt. M. & R. Exch. 88, 459 ; 4 Tyrwh. 369 ; 2 Scott, 193; 1 Harr. & W. 216.
The demand should be made by the party having the right, or his authorized agent, 2 Bos. & P. 464 a; 1 Bail. So. C. 193 ; 2 Mae. C. C. 77, of the person in default, in cases of torts, 1 Esp. 22 ; 8 Barnew. & C. 528 ; 7 Johns. N. Y. 302, in cast of rent, 2 Washburn, Prop. 321, 322, and at a proper time and place in case of rents, 3 Wend. N. Y. 230 ; 17 Johns. N. Y. 66 ; 4 N. H. 251 • 15 id. 68 ; 4 Harr. & M'H. Md. 135 ; 21 Pick. Masa. 389, in cases of notes and bills of exchange. Parsons, Notes & B.
.9.s to the allegation of a demand in a de claration, see 1 Chitty, Plead. 322; 2 id. 84; 1 Wms. Saund. 33, note 2; Comyns, Dig. Pleader.