| Noun | 1. | demand - the ability and desire to purchase goods and services; "the automobile reduced the demand for buggywhips"; "the demand exceeded the supply" Antonyms: supply - offering goods and services for sale |
| 2. | demand - an urgent or peremptory request; "his demands for attention were unceasing" | |
| 3. | demand - a condition requiring relief; "she satisfied his need for affection"; "God has no need of men to accomplish His work"; "there is a demand for jobs" Synonyms: need | |
| 4. | demand - the act of demanding; "the kidnapper's exorbitant demands for money" | |
| 5. | demand - required activity; "the requirements of his work affected his health"; "there were many demands on his time" Synonyms: requirement | |
| Verb | 1. | demand - request urgently and forcefully; "The victim's family is demanding compensation"; "The boss demanded that he be fired immediately"; "She demanded to see the manager" |
| 2. | demand - require as useful, just, or proper; "It takes nerve to do what she did"; "success usually requires hard work"; "This job asks a lot of patience and skill"; "This position demands a lot of personal sacrifice"; "This dinner calls for a spectacular dessert"; "This intervention does not postulates a patient's consent" | |
| 3. | demand - claim as due or just; "The bank demanded payment of the loan" Synonyms: exact | |
| 4. | demand - lay legal claim to | |
| 5. | demand - summon to court | |
| 6. | demand - ask to be informed of; "I demand an explanation" |
DEMAND, contracts. A claim; a legal obligation.
2. Lord Coke says, that demand is a word of art, and of an extent, in
its signification, greater than any other word except claim. Litt. sect.
508; Co. Litt. 291; 2 Hill, R. 220; 9 S. & R. 124; 6 Watts and S. 226. Hence
a release of all demands is, in general, a release of all covenants, real
and personal, conditions, whether broken or not, annuities, recognizances,
obligations, contracts, and the like. 3 Tho. Co. Litt. 427; 3 Penna, 120; 2
Hill, R. 228.
3. But a release of all demands does not discharge rent before it is
due, if it be a rent incident to the reversion; for the rent was not only
not due, but the consideration - the future enjoyment of the lands - for
which the rent was to be given, was not executed. 1 Sid. 141; 1 Lev. 99 3
Lev. 274; Bac. Ab. Release, I.
DEMAND, practice. A requisition or a request by one individual to another to
do a particular thing.
2. Demands are either express or implied. In many cases, an express
demand must be made before the commencement of an action, some of which
will be considered below; in other cases an implied demand is all that the
law requires, and the bringing of an action is a sufficient demand in those
cases. 1 Saund. 33, note 2.
3. A demand is frequently necessary to secure to a man all his rights,
both in actions arising on contracts and those which are founded on some
tort. It is requisite also, when it is intended to bring the party into
contempt for not performing an order which has been made a rule of court.
4.-1. Whether a demand is requisite before the plaintiff can commence
an action arising on contract, depends upon express or implied stipulations
of the parties. In case of the sale of property, for example, to be paid for
on delivery, a demand of it must be made before the commencement of an
action for non-delivery, and proved on the trial, unless it can be shown
that the seller has incapacitated himself by a resale and delivery of the
property to another person, or otherwise. 1 East, R. 204 5 T. R. 409; 10
East, R. 359; 5 B. & Ald. 712 2 Bibb, 280 Hardin, 79; 1 Verm. 25; 5 Cowen,
516. 16 Mass. 453; 6 Mass. 61 4 Mass. 474; 3 Bibb, 85; 3 Wend. 556; 5 Munf.
R. 1; 2 Greenl. 308; 9 John. 361; 6 Hill, N. Y. Rep. 297.
5. On the same principles, a request on a general promise to marry is
requisite, unless it be dispensed with by the party's marrying another
person, which puts it out of his power to fulfill his contract, or that he
refuses to marry at any time. 2 Dow. & Ry. 55; 1 Chit. Pr. 57, note (n), and
438, note (e)
6. A demand of rent must always be made before a re-entry for the non-
payment of rent. Vide Re-entry.
7. When a note is given and no time of payment is mentioned, it is
payable immediately. 8 John. R. 374; 5 Cowen, R. 516 1 Conn. R. 404; 1 Bibb,
R. 164; 1 Blackf. R. 233.
8. There are cases where, a demand is not originally necessary, but
becomes so by the act of the obligor. On a promissory note no express demand
of payment is requisite before bringing an action, but if the debtor tenders
the amount due to the creditor on the note, it becomes necessary before
bringing. an action, to make a demand of the debtor for payment; and this
should be of the very sum tendered. 1 Campb. 181 Id. 474; 1 Stark. R. 323; 2
E. C. L. R. 409.
9. When a debt or obligation is payable, and no day of payment is
fixed, it is payable, on demand. In omnibus obligationibus in quibus dies
non ponitur, presenti die debitur. Jac. Introd. 62; 7 T. R. 427 Barn. & Cr.
157. The demand must, however, be made in a reasonable time, for after the
lapse of twenty years, a presumption will arise that the note has been paid;
but, like some other presumptions, it may be rebutted, by showing the fact
that the note remains unpaid. 5 Esp. R. 52 1 D. & R. 16 Byles on Bills, 169.
10. When demand of the payment of a debt, secured by note or other
instrument, is made, the party making it should be ready to deliver up such
note or instrument, on payment. If it has been lost or destroyed, an
indemnity should be offered. 2 Taunt. 61; 3 Taunt. 397; 5 Taunt. 30; 6 Mass.
R. 524; 7 Mass. R. 483; 13 Mass. R. 557; 11 Wheat. R. 171; 4 Verm. R. 313; 7
Gill & Johns. 78 3 Whart. R. 116; 12 Pick. R. 132 17 Mass. 449.
11.-2. It is requisite in some cases arising ex delicto, to make a
demand of restoration of the right before the commencement of an action.
12. The following are examples 1. 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 action brought, in order to constitute the
party a willful wrongdoer, unless the plaintiff can prove an original illegal
enticing away. 2 Lev. 63: Willes, 582; 1 Peake's C. N. P. 55; 5 East, 39; 6
T. R. 652; 4 Moore's R. 12 16 E. C. L. R. 3 5 7.
13.-2. 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
notice 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.
The refusal to comply with such a demand, unless justified by some right
which the possessor may have in the thing detained, will in general afford
sufficient evidence of a conversion. 2 Saund. 47, note (e); 1 Chit. Pr. 566.
14.-3. When a nuisance has been erected or continued by a man on his
own land) it is advisable, particularly in the case of a private nuisance,
to give the party notice and request him to remove it, either before an
entry is made for the purpose of abating it, or an action is commenced
against the wrong doer and a demand is always indispensable in cases of a
continuance of a nuisance originally created by another person. 2 B. & C.
302; S. C. 9 E. C. L. R. 96 Cro. Jac. 555; 5 Co. 100, 101; 2 Phil. Ev. 8,
18, n. 119; 1 East, 111; 7 Vin. Ab. 506; 1 Ayl. Pand. 497; Bac. Ab. Rent, 1.
Vide articles Abatement of Nuisance, and if Nuisance. For the allegation of
a demand or request in a declaration, see article Licet scoepius requisitus;
and Com. Dig. Pleader, C 70 2 Chit. Pl. 84; 1 Saund. 33, note 2; 1 Chit. Pl.
322.
15.-4. When 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. P. C. 338, 448: 1 C. M. & R. 88, 459; 4 Tyr. 369; 2 Scott,
193; 4 Dowl. P. C. 114; 1 Hodges 197; 1 Har. & Woll. 216; 1 Hodges, 157; Id.
337; 4 Dowl. P. C. 86.