CHARGE. A duty or obligation imposed upon some person. A lien, incumbrance, or claim which is to be satisfied out of the specific thing or proceeds thereof to which it applies.
To impose such an obligation; to create such a claim.
To accuse.
The distinctive significance of the term rests ill the idea of obligation directly hearing upon the in dividual thing or person to be affected, and binding him or it to the discharge of the duty or satisfac tion of the claim imposed. Thus, charging an estate* with the payment of a debt is appropriating a nite portion to the particulor purpose; charging at person with the commission of a crime is pointing out the individual who is bound to answer for the wrong committed; charging a jury is stating the precise principles of law applicable to the case im mediately in question. In this view, a charge will, in general terms, denote a responsibility peculiar to the person or thing affected and authoritatively im posed, or the act fixing such responsibility.
In Contracts. An obligation, binding upon him who enters into it, which may be re moved or taken away by a discharge. Ter mes de la Ley.
An undertaking to keep the custody of another person's goods.
An obligation entered into by the owner of an estate, which binds the estate for its performance. Comyns, Dig. Rent, c. 6; 2 Ball & B. 223.
In Devises. A duty imposed upon a devi see, either personally, or with respect to the estate devised. It may be the payment of a legacy or sum of money or an annuity, the care and maintenance of a relative or other person, the discharge of an existing lien upon laud devised or the payment of debts, or, in short, the performance of any duty or obligation which may be lawfully imposed as a condition of the enjoyment of the bounty of a testator. A charge is
not an interest in, but a lien upon, lands;; Potter v. Gardner, 12 Wheat. (U. S.) 498, 6 L. Ed. 706; Thayer v. Finnegan, 134 Mass.. 62, 45 Am. Rep. 285; Appeal of Walter, 95 Pa. 305 ; 1 Ves. & B. 260; it will not be di vested by a sheriff's sale ; Rohn v. Odenwel der, 162 Pa. 346, 29 Atl. 899.
Where a charge is personal, and there are no words of limitation, the devisee will gen erally take the fee of the estate devised; 4 Kent 540 ; 2 Bla. Cora. 108; Jackson v. Mer Q Johns. (N. 185, 5 Am. Dec. 213; Wait v. Belding, 24 Pick. (Miss.) 139; but he will take only a life estate if it be upon the estate generally ; 14 Mees. & W. 698; Gardner v. Gardner, 3 Mas. 209, Fed. Cas. No. 51,227; Wright v. Denn, 10 Wheat. (U. S.) 231, 6 L. Ed. 303; Jackson v. Martin, 18 Johns. (N. Y.) 35; McLellan v. Turner, 15 Me. 436; Lithgow v. Kavenagh, 9 Mass. 161; Spraker v. Van Alstyne, 18 Wend. (N. Y.) 200; unless the charge be greater than a life estate will satisfy; 6 Co. 16; 4 Term 93 ; Olmsted v. Harvey, 1 Barb. (N. Y.) 102; Wait v. Belding, 24 Pick. (Mass.) 138; 1 Washb. R. P. 59. See 9 L. R. A. 584, n.,