Definition and Citations:
Things indispensable, or things proper and useful, for the sustenance of human life. This is a relative term, and its meaning will contract or expand according to the situation and social condition of the person referred to. Megraw v. Woods, 93 Mo. App. 047, 67 S. W. 709; Warner v. Ileiden, 28 Wis. 517, 9 Am. Bep. 515; Artz v. Robertson, 50 111. App. 27; Conant v. Burn- ham, 133 Mass. 505, 43 Am. Bep. 532. In reference to the contracts of infants, this term is not used in its strictest sense, nor limited to that which is required to sus- tain life. Those things which are proper and suitable to each individual, according to his circumstances and condition in life, are necessaries, if not supplied from some other source. See Hamilton v. Lane, 138 Mass. 300; Jordnu v. Collield, 70 N. C. 113; Middle- bury College v. Chandler, 10 Vt. 0S5, 42 Am. Dec. 537; Breed v. Judd, 1 Gray (Mass.) 458. In the case of ships the term “necessaries” means such things as are fit and proper for the service in which the ship is engaged, and such as the owner, being a prudent man, would have ordered if present; e. g., anchors, rigging, repairs, victuals. Maude & P. Shipp. 71, 113. The master may hypothecate the ship for necessaries supplied abroad so as to bind the owner. Sweet. See The Plymouth Rock, 19 Fed. Cas. 898; Hubbard v. Roach (C. C.) 2 Fed. 394; The Gustavia, 11 Fed. Cas. 120. Necessarium est quod non potest aliter ?e habere. That is necessary which cannot be otherwise