Convert; Conversion

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notmartha
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Convert; Conversion

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When the nature of something is altered, conversion takes place. People are converted into persons, rights are converted into privileges, etc. If you are aware these conversions take place, with or without your consent, you'll be better able to rebut the presumptions of your converted nature.

BIBLE

Shûb, Hebrew Strong's #7725, is used 1066 times in the Old Testament. It is translated as return (391), again (248), turn (123), back (65), away (56), restore (39), bring (34), render (19), answer (18), recompense (8), recover (6), deliver (5), put (5), withdraw (5), requite (4), and miscellaneous translations (40). It is translated as “convert” in the following verses:
Psalm 19:7 - The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

Psalm 51:13 - Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

Isaiah 1:27 - Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.

Isaiah 6:10 - Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
Hāpak, Hebrew Strong's #2015, is used 94 times in the Old Testament. It is translated as turn (57), overthrow (13), overturn (5), change (3), turn... (60), become (1), came (1), converted (1), gave (1), make (1), perverse (1), perverted (1), retired (1), tumbled (1). It is translated as “converted” in the following verse:
Isaiah 60:5 - Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.
Epistrephō, Greek Strong's #1994, is used 39 times in the New Testament. It is translated as turn (16), be converted (6), return (6), turn about (4), turn again (3), miscellaneous translations (4). It is translated as “converted” in the following verses:
Matthew 13:15 - For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Mark 4:12 - That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.

Luke 22:32 - But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

John 12:40 - He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

Acts 3:19 - Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

Acts 28:27 - For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

James 5:19-20 - Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
Epistrophē, Greek Strong's #1995, is used 1 time in the New Testament. It is translated as “conversion” in the following verse:
Acts 15:3 - And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.
Strephō, Greek Strong's #4762, is used 19 times in the New Testament. It is translated as turn (11), turn (one's) self (2), turn (one) (1), turn again (1), turn back again (1), turn (one) about (1), be converted (1), turn (1). It is translated as “converted” in the following verse:
Matthew 18:3 - And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
DEFINITIONS

Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, 1828
CONVERSION, noun [Latin See Convert.]

1. In a general sense, a turning or change from one state to another; with regard to substances, transmutation; as a conversion of water into ice, or of food into chyle or blood.

2. In military affairs, a change of front, as when a body of troops is attacked in the flank, and they change their position to face the enemy.

3. In a theological or moral sense, a change of heart, or dispositions, in which the enmity of the heart to God and his law and the obstinacy of the will are subdued, and are succeeded by supreme love to God and his moral government, and a reformation of life.

4. Change from one side or party to another.
That conversion will be suspected that apparently concurs with interest.

5. A change from one religion to another; as the conversion of the Gentiles. Acts 15:3.

6. The act of appropriating to private use; as in trover and conversion

CONVERT, verb transitive [Latin , to turn; coinciding in elements and signification with barter.]

1. To change or turn into another substance or form; as, to convert gases into water, or water into ice.

2. To change from one state to another; as, to convert a barren waste into a fruitful field; to convert a wilderness into a garden; to convert rude savages into civilized men.

3. To change or turn from one religion to another, or from one party or sect to another; as, to convert pagans to Christianity; to convert royalists into republicans.

4. To turn from a bad life to a good one; to change the heart and moral character, from enmity to God and from vicious habits, to love of God and to a holy life.

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. Acts 3:19.
He that converteth a sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death. James 5:19.

5. To turn toward a point.
Crystal will callify into electricity, and convert the needle freely placed. [Unusual.]

6. To turn from one use or destination to another; as, to convert liberty into an engine of oppression.

7. To appropriate or apply to ones own use, or to personal benefit; as, to convert public property to our own use.

8. To change one proposition into another, so that what was the subject of the first becomes the predicate of the second; as, all sin is a transgression of the law; but every transgression of the law is sin.

9. To turn into another language.

CONVERT, verb intransitive
To turn or be changed; to undergo a change.
The love of wicked friends converts to fear; that fear, to hate.

CONVERT, noun

1. A person who is converted from one opinion or practice to another; a person who renounces one creed, religious system or party, and embraces another; applied particularly to those who change their religious opinions, but applicable to political and philosophical sects.

2. In a more strict sense, one who is turned from sin to holiness.
Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. Isaiah 1:27.

3. In monasteries, a lay-friar or brother, admitted to the service of the house, without orders, and not allowed to sing in the choir.
Bouvier’s Dictionary of Law, 1856
CONVERSION. torts.

1. The unlawful turning or applying the personal goods of another to the use of the taker, or of some other person than the owner; or the unlawful destroying or altering their nature.

2. When a party takes away or wrongfully assumes the right to goods which belong to another, it will in general be sufficient evidence of a conversion but when the original taking was, lawful, as when the party found the goods, and the detention only is illegal, it is absolutely necessary to make a demand of the goods, and there must be a refusal to deliver them before the conversion will, be complete. The refusal by a servant to deliver the goods entrusted to him by his master, is not evidence of a conversion by his master.

3. The tortious taking of property is, of itself, a conversion and any intermeddling with it, or any exercise of dominion over it, subversive of the dominion of the owner, or the nature of the bailment, if it be bailed, is, evidence of a conversion.

CONVERSION, in equity

The considering of one thing as changed into another; for example, land will be considered as converted into money, and treated as such by a court of equity, when the owner has contracted to sell his estate in which case, if he die before the conveyance, his executors and not his heirs will be entitled to the money. On the other hand, money is converted into land in a variety of ways as for example, when a man agrees to buy land, and dies before he has received the conveyance, the money he was to pay for it will be considered as converted into lands, and descend to the heir.
Black’s Law Dictionary, 1st Edition, 1891
CONVERSION.

In equity. The transformation of one species of property in to another, as money into land or land into money; or, more particularly, a fiction of law, by which equity assumes that such a transformation has taken place (contrary to the fact) when it is rendered necessary by the equities of the case—as to carry into effect the directions of a will or settlement,—and by which the property so dealt with becomes invested with the properties and attributes of that into which it is supposed to have been converted.

At law. An unauthorized assumption and exercise of the right of ownership over goods or personal chattels belonging to an other, to the alteration of their condition or the exclusion of the owner's rights. 44 Me. 197; 86 N. H. 311; 45 Wis. 262. Conversion is defined to be an unauthorized assumption and exercise of the right of ownership over goods belonging to another to the exclusion of the owner's rights. A constructive conversion takes place when a person does such acts in reference to the goods of another as amount in law to appropriation of the property to himself. Every unauthorized taking of personal property, and all intermeddling with it, beyond the extent of the authority conferred, in case a limited authority has been given, with intent so to apply and dispose of it as to alter its condition or interfere with the owner's dominion, is a conversion. 68 N. Y. 524.

“Conversion” and “carrying away " are not synonymous nor convertible terms. There may be a
conversion without any carrying away. 26 Ala. 101.
The Century Dictionary, an Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, Vol. 2, 1895
Conversion (kon-ver'shon), n.

1. In general, a turning or changing from one state or form to another; transmutation; transformation: sometimes implying total loss of identity: as, a conversion of water into ice, or of
food into chyle or blood; the conversion of a thing from its original purpose to another ; the conversion of land into money.

2. In logic, that immediate inference which transforms a proposition into another whose subject-term is the predicate term, and whose predicate-term the subject term, of the former.

3. In theol, a radical and complete change, sudden or gradual, in the spirit, purpose, and direction of the life, from one of self-seeking and enmity toward God to one of love toward God and man.

4. Change from one religion to another, or from one side or party to another, especially from one that is regarded as false to one that is regarded as true.

5. Milit. : (a) A change of front, as of a body of troops attacked in flank, (b) The application of condemned stores to uses other than that originally intended.

6, In ordnance, the alteration of a smooth-bore gun into a rifled gun by inserting a lining-tube of wrought-iron or steel,

7, In law: (a) An authorized assumption and exercise of the right of ownership over personal property belonging to another in hostility to his rights; an act of dominion over the personal property of another inconsistent with his rights; unauthorized appropriation, (b) A change from realty into personality, or vice versa. See equitable conversion,

8. Naut. the reduction of a vessel by one deck, so as to convert a line-of-battle ship into a frigate, or a crank three-decker into a good two-decker, or a serviceable vessel into a hulk.

Convert (kon-v^rf), V.

1. To cause to turn; turn; turn round.

2. To change or turn, as into another form or substance or, by exchange, into an equivalent thing; transmute; transform: as, to convert grain into spirits; to convert one kind of property into another; to convert bank-notes into gold.

3. To change from one state or condition to another: as, to convert a barren waste into a fruitful field ; to convert rude savages into civilized men.

4. In theoL, to change the purpose, direction, and spirit of the life of (another) from one of self-seeking and enmity toward God to one of love toward God and man ; turn from an evil life to a holy one.

5. To change or turn from one religion to another, or from one party or sect to another, especially from one that is regarded as false to one that is regarded as true.

6. To turn from one use or destination to another; divert from the proper or intended use; specifically, in law, of personal property, unlawfully to assume ownership of, or to assert a control over, inconsistent with that of the owner; appropriate without right to one's own use, or intentionally deprive of its use the one having the right thereto.

7. In logic, to transform by conversion.

8. To turn into or express in another language ; translate.
Black’s Law Dictionary, 2nd Edition, 1910
CONVERSION.

In equity. The transformation of one species of property into an other, as money into land or land into money; or, more particularly, a fiction of law, by which equity assumes that such a transformation has taken place (contrary to the fact) when it is rendered necessary by the equities of the case,—as to carry into effect the directions of a will or settlement,—and by which the property so dealt with becomes invested with the properties and attributes of that into which It is supposed to have been converted. Seymour v. Freer, 8 Wall. 214, 19 L. Ed. 300; Howard v. Peavey, 128 111. 430, 21 N. E. 503, 15 Am. St. Rep. 120; Yerkes v. Xerkes, 200 Pa. 419, 50 Atl. 186; Appeal of Clarke, 70 Conn. 195, 39 AH. 155.

At law. An unauthorized assumption and exercise of the right of ownership over goods or personal chattels belonging to another, to the alteration of their condition or the exclusion of the owner's rights. Baldwin v. Cole, 6 Mod. 212; Trust Co. v. Tod, 170 N. Y. 233, 63 N. E. 285; Boyce v. Brockway, 31 N. Y. 490; University v. Bank, 96 N. C. 280, 3 S. E. 359; Webber v. Davis, 44 Me. 147, 69 Am. Dec. 87 ; Gilman v. Hill, 36 N. H. 311; Stough v. Stefani, 19 Neb. 468, 2T N. W. 445; Schroeppel v. Corning, 5 Denio- (N. Y.) 236; Aschermann v. Brewing Co., 45 Wis. 266.

—Constructive conversion. An implied or virtual conversion, which takes place where a person does such acts in reference to the goods of another as amount in law to the appropriation of the property to himself. Scruggs v. Scruggs (C. C.) 105 Fed. 28 ; Laverty v. Snetben, 68 N. Y. 524, 23 Am. Rep. 184.
Ballentine’s Law Dictionary, James A. Ballentine, Third Edition, 1969
conversion.
A distinct act of dominion wrongfully exerted over another's personal property in denial of or inconsistent with his title or rights therein, or in derogation, exclusion, or defiance of such title or rights. 18 Am J2d Conversion § 1. It is an essentially tortious act, an unlawful act, an act that cannot be justified or excused in law. 18 Am J2d Conversion § 1: the act of placing absolute faith in a religion.
See equitable conversion.
Equitable conversion.
That constructive alteration in the nature or character of property whereby, in equity, real is for certain purposes considered as personalty, or whereby personally for similar considerations, is regarded as real estate, and in either instance, it is deemed to be transmissible and descendible in its converted form. 27 Am J2d Eq C’onv § 1.

Black’s Law Dictionary, 4th Edition, 1968
CONVERSION.

Equity.
The exchange of property from real to personal or from personal to real, which takes place under some circumstances in the consideration of the law, such as, to give effect to directions in a will or settlement, or to stipulations in a contract, although no such change has actually taken place, 1 Bro.C.C. 497; 1 Lead.Cas.Eq. 619; 1 Lead. Cas.Eq. 872; Lawrence v. Elliott, 3 Redf.Sur. (N.Y.) 235; Dodge v. Williams, 46 Wis. 70, 1 N.W. 92, 50 N.W. 1108; Mattison v. Stone, 99 S.C. 151, 82 S.E. 1046, 1047; and by which exchange the property so dealt with becomes invested with the properties and attributes of that into which it is supposed to have been converted; Seymour v. Freer, 8 Wall. 214, 19 L.Ed. 306; Haward v. Peavey, 128 Ill. 430, 21 N.E. 503, 15 Am.St.Rep. 120.

Although it is sometimes necessary for certain purposes of devolution and transfer to regard the property in its changed condition as though the change has not absolutely taken place; Davidson v. Bright, 267 Pa. 580, 110 A. 301, 302. A qualified conversion is one directed for some particular purpose; Harker v. Reilly, 4 Del.Ch. 72.

Law
An unauthorized assumption and exercise of the right of ownership over goods or personal chattels belonging to another, to the alteration of their condition or the exclusion of the owner's rights. Stickney v. Munroe, 44 Me. 197; Baldwin v. Cole, 6 Mod. 212; In re Di Crocco's Estate, 12 N. Y.S.2d 276, 278, 170 Misc. 826; Powell v. A. K. Brown Motor Co., 20 S.E.2d 636, 637, 200 S.C. 75.

Any unauthorized act which deprives an owner of his property permanently or for an indefinite time. Forbush v. San Diego Fruit & 'Produce Co., 46 Idaho, 231, 266 P. 659, 663.

Also one who aids and abets another in keeping property from its rightful owner is guilty of "conversion". Edwards v. Max Thieme Chevrolet Co., La.App., 191 So. 569, 571, 572.

Constructive conversion. An implied or virtual conversion, which takes place where a person does such acts in reference to the goods of another as amount in law to the appropriation of the
property to himself. Scruggs v. Scruggs, C.C. Mo., 105 F. 28; Laverty v. Snethen, 68 N.Y. 524,
23 Am.Rep. 184; Wade v. Ray, 67 Okl. 39, 168 P. 447, 449, L.R.A.1918B, 796.

Direct conversion. The act of actually appropriating the property of another to his own beneficial use and enjoyment, or to that of a third person, or destroying it, or altering its nature. Ross v. Lewis, 23 N.M. 524, 169 P. 468, 469; or wrongfully assuming title in himself; Cass v. Ocean Park Bath Co., 45 Cal.App. 656, 188 P. 616, 617; there must be a positive wrong or act of malfeasance; American Surety Co. of New York v. Hill County, Tex.Civ.App., 254 S.W. 241, 245.
Black’s Law Dictionary, 5th Edition, 1979
Conversion.
An unauthorized assumption and exercise of the right of ownership over goods or personal chattels belonging to another, to the alteration of their condition or the exclusion of the owner's rights. Any unauthorized act which deprives an owner of his property permanently or for an indefinite time. Unauthorized and wrongful exercise of dominion and control over another's personal property, to exclusion of or inconsistent with rights of owner. Catania v. Garage De Le Paix, Inc., Tex.Civ.App., 542 S.W.2d 239, 241. See also Embezzlement; Equitable conversion; Fraudulent conversion; Involuntary conversion.

Act of exchanging a convertible security for another security. See Convertible securities.

Commercial instruments. An instrument is converted when: a drawee to whom it is delivered for acceptance refuses to return it on demand; or any person to whom it is delivered for payment refuses on demand either to pay or to return it; or it is paid on a forged indorsement. U.C.C. § 3-419(1).

Constructive conversion. An implied or virtual conversion, which takes place where a person does such acts in reference to the goods of another as amount in law to the appropriation of the property to himself.

Direct conversion. The act of actually appropriating the property of another to his own beneficial use and enjoyment, or to that of a third person, or destroying it, or altering its nature, or wrongfully assuming title in himself.

Equitable conversion. The exchange of property from real to personal or from personal to real, which takes place under some circumstances in the consideration of the law, such as, to give effect to directions in a will or settlement, or to stipulations in a contract, although no such change has actually taken place, and by which exchange the property so dealt with becomes invested with the properties and attributes of that into which it is supposed to have been converted. It is sometimes necessary however for certain purposes of devolution and transfer to regard the property in its changed condition as though the change has not absolutely taken place.

WEX Legal Dictionary
Conversion
A tort. An intention act by a defendant causing the serious and substantial interference with or the destruction of the chattel of the defendant.
UCC § 3-420. CONVERSION OF INSTRUMENT.
(a) The law applicable to conversion of personal property applies to instruments. An instrument is also converted if it is taken by transfer, other than a negotiation, from a person not entitled to enforce the instrument or a bank makes or obtains payment with respect to the instrument for a person not entitled to enforce the instrument or receive payment. An action for conversion of an instrument may not be brought by (i) the issuer or acceptor of the instrument or (ii) a payee or indorsee who did not receive delivery of the instrument either directly or through delivery to an agent or a co-payee.

(b) In an action under subsection (a), the measure of liability is presumed to be the amount payable on the instrument, but recovery may not exceed the amount of the plaintiff's interest in the instrument.

(c) A representative, other than a depositary bank, who has in good faith dealt with an instrument or its proceeds on behalf of one who was not the person entitled to enforce the instrument is not liable in conversion to that person beyond the amount of any proceeds that it has not paid out.
'Lectric Law Library
CONVERSION

Torts. The unlawful turning or applying the personal goods of another to the use of the taker, or of some other person than the owner; or the unlawful destroying or altering their nature.

When a party takes away or wrongfully assumes the right to goods which belong to another, it will in general be sufficient evidence of a conversion but when the original taking was lawful, as when the party found the goods, and the detention only is illegal, it is absolutely necessary to make a demand of the goods, and there must be a refusal to deliver them before the conversion will be complete. The refusal by a servant to deliver the goods entrusted to him by his master is not evidence of a conversion by his master.

The tortious taking of property is, of itself, a conversion and any intermeddling with it, or any exercise of dominion over it, subversive of the dominion of the owner or the nature of the bailment if it be bailed, is evidence of a conversion.

In Equity. The considering of one thing as changed into another; for example, land will be considered as converted into money and treated as such by a court of equity, when the owner has contracted to sell his estate, in which case, if he die before the conveyance, his executors and not his heirs will be entitled to the money. On the other hand, money is converted into land in a variety of ways as for example, when a man agrees to buy land and dies before he has received the conveyance, the money he was to pay for it will be considered as converted into lands, and descend to the heir.


QUOTES

Albert Jay Nock:
The superficial distinctions of Fascism, Bolshevism, Hitlerism, are the concern of journalists and publicists; the serious student sees in them only one root-idea of a complete conversion of social power into State power.

Frederic Bastiat:
It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.
Alan Watts:
But when no risk is taken there is no freedom. It is thus that, in an industrial society, the plethora of laws made for our personal safety convert the land into a nursery, and policemen hired to protect us become selfserving busybodies.

Senator Sam Ervin:
... judicial verbicide is calculated to convert the Constitution into a worthless scrap of paper and to replace our government of laws with a judicial oligarchy.

H. L. Mencken:
It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume...that every citizen is a criminal. Their one apparent purpose, pursued with a relentless and furious diligence, is to convert the assumption into a fact. They hunt endlessly for proofs, and, when proofs are lacking, for mere suspicions. The moment they become aware of a definite citizen, John Doe, seeking what is his right under the law, they begin searching feverishly for an excuse for withholding it from him.

James Madison:
It becomes all therefore who are friends of a Government based on free principles to reflect, that by denying the possibility of a system partly federal and partly consolidated, and who would convert ours into one either wholly federal or wholly consolidated, in neither of which forms have individual rights, public order, and external safety, been all duly maintained, they aim a deadly blow at the last hope of true liberty on the face of the Earth.

Jerome D. Frank:
To vest a few fallible men -- prosecutors, judges, jurors -- with vast powers of literary or artistic censorship, to convert them into what J.S. Mill called the "moral police" is to make them despotic arbiters of literary products... If one day they ban mediocre books as obscene, another day they may do otherwise to a work of a genius. Originality, not too plentiful, should be cherished, not stifled. An author's imagination may be cramped if he must write with an eye on prosecutors or juries…

Alan Greenspan:
In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value. If there were, the government would have to make its holding illegal, as was done in the case of gold. If everyone decided, for example, to convert all his bank deposits to silver or copper or any other good, and thereafter declined to accept checks as payment for goods, bank deposits would lose their purchasing power and government-created bank credit would be worthless as a claim on goods. The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves.
This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists' tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights.
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