Legal Term: HABIT

Definition: A disposition or condition of the body or mind acquired by custom or a frequent repetition of the same act. See 2 Mart. Lo. Rep. N. S. 622.

2. The habit of dealing has always an important bearing upon the construction of commercial contracts. A ratification will be inferred from the mere habit of dealing between the parties; as, if a broker has been accustomed to settle losses on policies in a particular manner, without any objection being made, or with the silent approbation of his principal, and he should afterward settle other policies in the same manner, to which no objection should be made within a reasonable time, a just presumption would arise of an implied ratification; for if the principal did not agree to such settlement he should have declared his dissent. 2 Bouv. Inst. 1313-14.

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