CONFUSIO

confusio (k<<schwa>>n-fyoo-zhee-oh), n. [fr. Latin confundere “to pour together”] 1.Roman law. An inseparable mixture of liquid property belonging to different owners. Cf. COMMIXTIO. 2.Roman law. The extinction of a right or duty that occurs when the roles of creditor and debtor become united in one person. 3.Scots law. A doctrine whereby a lesser right is absorbed into a greater right and is thus extinguished. • For example, if a debtor acquired the rights of a creditor, the debt would become meaningless.

“When the rights of both creditor and debtor come to be vested in the one person, in the same legal capacity, as by succession, gift or purchase, the obligation is extinguished, unless the creditor has an interest to maintain the obligation in being or the intention appears that confusio was not to operate. Obligations are not necessarily extinguished confusione where there is a legal relationship, independent of the pecuniary interests thereof, capable of revival by a subsequent separation of interests, as in the case of superior and vassal, and dominant and serient tenements in relation to servitude.” 2 David M. Walker, Principles of Scottish Private Law: Law of Obligations 170 (1988). [Blacks Law 8th]