Definition
In civil law, dation is the act of giving or delivering something — whether property, an office, or other entitlement — without the element of liberality that distinguishes a true gift. The term encompasses any formal transfer of a thing from one person to another, but its defining feature is that the transfer need not spring from generosity: the recipient may already be entitled to receive what is given.
Two senses are recognized in legal usage:
1. Dation (general). The act of giving or conferring something — such as an office or a right — where the transfer satisfies an existing obligation or legal entitlement rather than expressing bounty toward the recipient.
2. Dation en paiement. In French and Louisiana civil law, a transaction in which a debtor, with the creditor's consent, satisfies a monetary debt by delivering something other than money — real property, a movable, or another asset — in lieu of the sum owed. Functionally analogous to common-law accord and satisfaction, but arising from a distinct doctrinal tradition.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "The act of giving, granting, or conferring (e.g., an office) but not liberal as a donation or gift; also, a dose."
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Not independently defined; the term was treated as a Latinism confined to civil law and ecclesiastical contexts.
The common-language sense tracks the legal sense more closely than most legal terms do, but the lay reader is unlikely to appreciate the critical distinction: dation does not require — and indeed excludes — the liberality that makes a transfer a gift. A person who reads "dation" as simply a synonym for "donation" will misread civil-law instruments and commentary that turn on this distinction.
Common Confusion
Dation vs. Donation. These terms share a root and are easily conflated, but they are not interchangeable. Donation imports liberality — the donor parts with something of their own free generosity, conferring a benefit the recipient had no prior right to expect. Dation is broader and colder: it covers any formal giving, including satisfaction of a pre-existing obligation. The distinction matters practically because civil-law formalities, revocability rules, and the doctrines governing onerous versus gratuitous transfers all turn on which category applies.
Dation en paiement vs. Accord and Satisfaction. Common-law researchers encountering dation en paiement in Louisiana materials or translated French sources may reach for accord and satisfaction as the nearest equivalent. The functional overlap is real, but the doctrinal architecture differs: dation en paiement operates by delivery and acceptance rather than by a new contractual agreement discharging the old, and the moment title passes is analyzed differently in each framework.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in Louisiana law, Quebec law, or any jurisdiction with a civil-law heritage will encounter dation — particularly dation en paiement — in property records, succession instruments, commercial agreements, and treatises. The term appears with some frequency in nineteenth-century Louisiana reported decisions and notarial acts.
The principal research trap is treating dation as a synonym for donation. Civil-law sources consistently maintain the distinction, and instruments that use the word dation are deliberately signaling the absence of gratuitous intent. Misreading the term can lead to incorrect analysis of whether a transfer is subject to gift formalities, whether it is revocable, or whether it triggers forced-heirship calculations in succession matters.
For historical corpus research, note that Bouvier is the most reliable among the standard American dictionaries on this term; Black's first and second editions are accurate but brief. Rapalje & Lawrence and Anderson do not meaningfully treat dation, so researchers relying solely on those sources will find gaps. The French-language civilian tradition — Pothier, Domat, and later Planiol — provides the fullest doctrinal treatment, and Law Mind sources derived from those traditions should be consulted alongside the English-language dictionaries.
Dation en paiement has practical significance beyond historical research: Louisiana courts and civilian scholars have continued to develop the doctrine, and it appears in modern Louisiana Civil Code articles governing obligations.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's (both editions) and Bouvier converge on the core definition: dation is a giving of something, distinguished from donation by the absence of liberality. Black's second edition adds the sub-entry for dation en paiement, correctly describing it as delivery by a debtor and receipt by a creditor of something other than money in satisfaction of a debt — the most practically significant application of the concept in American legal practice.
Bouvier is the most explicit on the doctrinal distinction: "dation, on the contrary, is giving something without any liberality; as, the giving of an office." This formulation is the clearest available in the English-language historical dictionaries and is worth consulting directly when the distinction needs to be demonstrated to a reader unfamiliar with civil law.
Rapalje & Lawrence and Anderson's Dictionary of Law do not provide useful entries on dation. Researchers should not interpret their silence as evidence that the term was unused or contested — it simply reflects those works' common-law orientation.
No historical dictionary source fully develops dation en paiement. Researchers who need doctrinal depth on that sub-concept must go beyond the standard shelf dictionaries to civilian treatise literature.
Jurisdictional Note
Dation en paiement is a live legal concept in Louisiana, where it is recognized under the Louisiana Civil Code. In common-law jurisdictions, the term has no direct doctrinal home and appears only in translated sources or comparative law materials. Quebec civil law also recognizes the concept under the French designation. Researchers outside Louisiana and Quebec will encounter dation almost exclusively in historical or comparative contexts.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia — Civil Law Obligations; Transfer of Property