Trans-ăc'tion, n.

n. [Fr. transaction, Sp. transaccion, It. transuzione, Pr. & Lat. transactio.]

1. The doing or performing of any business; management of any affair.
2. That which is done; an affair; as, we are not to expect in history a minute detail of every transaction.
3. (Civil Law.) An adjustment of a dispute between parties by mutual agreement.

Syn.—Proceeding; action; process.—TRANSACTION, PROCEEDING. A transaction is something already done and completed; a proceeding is either something which is now going on, or, if ended, is still contemplated with reference to its progress or successive stages. The proceedings at the trial of Lord Russell were marked by deep injustice, and they led to a transaction, in his beheading, of flagrant enormity. “We are witnesses to the whole proceeding; we inquire into the whole transaction. The proceeding embraces every event or circumstance which goes forward through the agency of men; the transaction only comprehends those matters which have been deliberately transacted or brought to a conclusion. In this sense we use the word proceeding in application to an affray in the street, and the word transaction to some commercial negotiation that has been carried on between certain persons. The proceeding marks the manner of proceeding, as when we speak of the proceedings in a court of law. The transaction marks the business transacted, as the transactions on the Exchange. A proceeding may be characterized as disgraceful, a transaction as iniquitous.” Crabb.