Home1778 Edition

DISPOSITION

Volume 4 · 176 words · 1778 Edition

in Scots law, is that deed or writing which contains the scale or grant of any subject: when applied to heritable subjects, it in some cases gets the name of charter, which differs from a disposition in nothing else than a few immaterial forms.

**Disposition**, in architecture, the just placing the several parts of an edifice according to their nature and office. See Architecture, n° 30, &c.

**Disposition**, in oratory. See Oratory, Part I.

**Disposition**, in painting. See Painting, n° 14.

**Disposition**, in human nature.—In every man there is something original, that serves to distinguish him from others, that tends to form a character, and to make him meek or fiery, candid or deceitful, resolute or timorous, cheerful or morose. This original bent, termed disposition, must be distinguished from a principle; the latter, signifying a law of human nature, makes part of the common nature of man; the former makes part of the nature of this or that man. Propensity is a name common to both; for it signifies a principle, as well as a disposition.