No. 13, pp. 130, 151, 152,
and pl. xxxi. No. 12.

[5] _Topographia Hiberniae_, cap. xi.

[6] _Scotichronicon_ (Fordun and Bower), xvi. 28; and Dalyell,
_Musical Memoirs of Scotland_, p. 47, pls. x. and xi.

CHOSE (Fr. for "thing"), a term used in English law in different senses.
_Chose local_ is a thing annexed to a place, as a mill. A _chose
transitory_ is that which is movable, and can be carried from place to
place. But the use of the word "chose" in these senses is practically
obsolete, and it is now used only in the phrases _chose in action_ and
_chose in possession_. A "chose in action," sometimes called a chose in
suspense, in its more limited meaning, denotes the right of enforcing by
legal proceedings the payment of a debt, or the obtaining money by way
of damages for breach of contract, or as a recompense for a wrong. Less
accurately, the money itself which could be recovered is frequently
termed a chose in action, as is also sometimes the document evidencing a
title to a chose in action, such as a bond or a policy of insurance,
though strictly it is only the right to recover the money which can be
so termed. Choses in action were, before the Judicature Acts, either
_legal_ or _equitable_. Where the chose could be recovered only by an
action at law, as a debt (whether arising from contract or tort), it was
termed a legal chose in action; where the chose was recoverable only by
a suit in equity, as a legacy or money held upon a trust, it was termed
an equitable chose in action. Before the Judicature Act, a legal chose
in action was not assignable, i.e. the assignee could not sue at law in
his own name. To this rule there were two exceptions:--(1) the crown has
always been able to assign choses in action that are certain, such as an
ascertained debt, but not those that are uncertain; (2) assignments
valid by operation of law, e.g. on marriage, death or bankruptcy. On the
other hand, however, by the law merchant, which is part of the law of
England, and which disregards the rules of common law, bills of exchange
were freely assignable. The consequence was that, with these and certain
statutory exceptions (e.g. actions on policies of insurance), an action
on an assigned chose in action must have been brought at law in the name
of the assignor, though the sum recovered belonged in equity to the
assignee. All choses in action being in equity assignable, except those
which are altogether incapable