REPRESENTATIVE. One who represents or is in the place of another.
2. In legi4lation, it signifies one who has been elected a moraber of that branch of the legislature called the house of representatives.
3. A representative of a deceased person, sometimes called a "personal representative," or legal personal representative," is one who is executor or administrator of the person described. 6 Madd. 159; 5 yes. 402.
REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY. A form of government where the powers of the sovereignty are delegated to a body of men, elected from time to time, who exercise them for the benefit of the whole nation. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 31.
TO REPRESENT. To exhibit; to expose before the eyes: to represent a thing is to produce it publicly. Dig. 10, 4, 2, 3.
REPRESENTATION, insurances. A representation is a collateral statement, either by writing not inserted in the policy, or by parol, of such facts or circumstances relative to the proposed adventure, as are necessary to be communicated to the underwriters, to enable them to form a just estimate of the risk.
2. A representation, like a warranty, may be either affirmative, as where the insured avers the existence of some fact or circumstance which may affect the risk; or promissory, as where he engages the performance of, something executory.
3. There is a material difference between a representation and a warranty.
4. A warranty, being a condition upon which the contract is to take effect, is always a part of the written policy, and must appear on the face of it. Marsh. Ins. c. 9, 2. Whereas a representation is only a matter of collateral information or intelligence on the subject of the voyage insured, and makes no part of the policy. A warranty being in the nature of a condition precedent, must be strictly and literally complied with; but it is sufficient if the representation be true in substance, whether a warranty be material to the risk or not, the insured stakes his claim of indemnity upon the precise truth of it, if it be affirmative, or upon the exact performance of it, if executory; but it is sufficient if a representation be made without fraud, and be not false in any material point, or if it be substantially, though not literally, fulfilled. A false warranty avoids the policy, as being a breach of the condition upon which the contract is to take effect; and the insurer is not liable for any loss though it do not happen in consequence of the breach of the warranty; a false representation is no breach of the contract, but if material, avoids the policy on the ground of fraud, or at least because the insurer has been misled by it. Marsh. Insur. B. 1, c. 10, s. 1; Dougl. R. 247: 4 Bro. P. C. 482. See 2 Caines' R. 155; 1 Johns. Cas. 408; 2 Caines' Cas. 173, n.; 3 Johns. Cas. 47; 1 Caines' Rep. 288; 2 Caines' R. 22; Id. 329; Sugd. Vend. 6; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t. and Concealment; Misrepresentation.
REPRESENTATION, Scotch law. The name of a plea or statement presented to a lord ordinary of the court of sessions, when his judgment is brought under review.
REPRESENTATION OF PERSONS; A fiction of the law, the effect of which is to put the representative in the place, degree, or right of the person represen-ted.
2. The heir represents his ancestor. Bac. Abr. Heir and Ancestor, A. The devisee, his testator; the executor, his testator; the administrator, his intestate; the successor in corporations, his predecessor. And generally speaking they are entitled to the rights of the persons whom they represent, and bound to fulfil the duties and obligations, which were binding upon them in those characters.
3. Representation was unknown to the Romans, and was invented by the commentators and doctors of the civil law. Toull. Dr. Civ. Fr. liv. 3, t. 1, c. 3, n. 180. Vide Ayl. Pand. 397; Dall. Diet. mot Succession, art. 4, 2.
REPRIEVE, crim. law practice. This term is derived from reprendre, to take back, and signifies the withdrawing of a sentence for an interval of time, and operates in delay of execution. 4 Bl. Com. 394. It is granted by the favor of the pardoning power, or by the court who tried the prisoner.
3. Reprieves are sometimes granted ex necessitate legis; for example, when a woman is convicted of a capital offence, after judgment she may allege pregnancy in delay of execution. In order, however, to render this plea available she must be quick with child, (q. v.) the law presuming, perhaps absurdly enough, that before that period, life does not commence in the foetus. 3 Inst. 17; 2 Hale, 413; 1 Hale, 368; 4 Bl. Com. 395.
4. The judge is also bound to grant a reprieve when the prisoner becomes insane. 4 Harg. St. Tr. 205, 6; 3 Inst. 4; Hawk B. 1, c. 1, s. 4; 1 Chit. Cr. Law, 757.
REPRIMAND, punishment. The censure which in some cases a public office pronounces against an offender.
2. This species of punishment is used by legislative bodies to punish their members or others who have been guilty of some impropriety of conduct towards them. The reprimand is usually pronounced by the speaker.
REPRISALS, war. The forcibly taking a thing by one nation which belonged to another, in return or satisfaction for a injury committed by the latter on the former. Vatt. B., 2, ch. 18, s. 342; 1 Bl. Com. ch. 7.
2. Reprisals are used between nation and nation to do themselves justice, when they cannot otherwise obtain it. Congress have the power to grant letters of marque (q. v.) and reprisal. Const. art. 1, s. 8 cl. 11.
3. Reprisals are made in two ways either by embargo, in which case the act is that of the state; or, by letters of marque and reprisals, in which case the act is that of the citizen, authorized by the government. Vide 2 Bro. Civ. Law, 334.
4. Reprisals are divided into negative, when a nation refuses to fulfil a perfect obligation, which it has contracted, or to permit another state to enjoy a right which it justly claims; or positive, when they consist in seizing the persons and effects belonging to the other nation, in order to obtain satisfaction.
5. They are also general or special. They are general when a state which has received, or supposes it has received an injury from another nation delivers commissions to its officers and subjects to take the persons and property belonging to the other nation, in retaliation for such acts, wherever they may be found. It usually amounts to a declaration of war. Specia reprisals are such as are granted in times of peace, to particular individuals who have suffered an injury from the citizens or subjects of the other nation. Bynker. Quaest. Jur. Pub. lib. 1, Duponce, au's Translation, p. 182, note; Dall. Diet. Prises maritimes, axt. 2, 5.
6. The property seized in making reprisals is preserved, while there is any hope of obtaining satisfaction or justice, as soon as that hope disappears, it is confiscated, and then the reprisal is complete. Vattel, B. 2, c. 18, 342.
REPRISES. The deductions and payments out of lands, annuities, and the like, are called reprises, because they are taken back; when we speak of the clear yearly value of an estate, we say it is worth so much a year ultra reprises, besides all reprises.
2. In Pennsylvania, lands are not to be sold when the rents can pay the encumbrances in seven years, beyond all reprises.
REPROBATION, eccl. law. The propounding exceptions either against facts, persons or things; as, to allege that certain deeds or instruments have not been duly and lawfully executed; or that certain persons are such that they are incompetent as witnesses; or that certain things ought not for legal reasons to be admitted.
REPUBLIC. A commonwealth; that form of government in which the administration of affairs is open to all the citizens. In another sense, it signifies the state, independently of its form of government. 1 Toull. n. 28, and n. 202, note. In this sense, it is used by Ben Johnson. Those that, by their deeds make it known, whose dignity they do sustain; And life, state, glory, all they gain, Count the Republic's, not their own, Vide Body Politic; Nation; State.
REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT. A government in the republican form; a government of the people; it is usually put in opposition to a monarchical or aristocratic government.
2. The fourth section of the fourth article of the constitution, directs that "the United States shall guaranty to every state in the Union a republican form of government." The form of government is to be guarantied, which supposes a form already established, and this is the republican form of government the United States have undertaken to protect. See Story, Const. 1807.
REPUBLICATION. An act done by a testator from which it can be concluded that be intended that an instrument which had been revoked by him, should operate as his will; or it is the re-execution of a will by the testator, with a view of giving it full force and effect.
2. The republication is express or implied. It is express when there has been an actual re-execution of it; 1 Ves. 440; 2 Rand. R. 192; 9 John, R. 312; it is implied when, for example, the testator by a codicil executed according to the statute of frauds, reciting that he had made his will, added, "I hereby ratify and confirm my said will, except in the alterations after mentioned." Com. R. 381.; 3 Bro. P. C. 85, The will might be at a distance, or not in the power of the testator, and it may be thus republished. 1 Ves. 437; 3 Bing. 614; 1 Ves. jr. 486; 4 Bro. C. C. 2.
3. The republication of a will has the effect; 1st. To give it all the force of a will made at the time of the republication; if, for example, a testator by his will devise "all his lands in A," then revokes his will, and afterwards buys other lands in A, the republication, made after the purchase, will pass all the testator's lands in A. Cro. Eliz. 493. See 1 P. Wms. 275. 2d. It sets up a will which had been revoked. See, generally, 2 Hill. Ab. 509; 3 Lomax, Dig. tit. 28, c. 6; 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 216 4.
TO REPUDIATE. To repudiate a right is to express in a sufficient manner, a determination not to accept it, when it is offered.
2. He who repudiates a right cannot by that act transfer it to another. Repudiation differs from renunciation in this, that by the former he who repudiates simply declares that he will not accept, while he who renounces a right does so in favor of another. Renunciation is however sometimes used in the sense of repudiation. See To Renounce; Renunciation; Wolff, Inst. 339.
REPUDIATION. In the civil law this term is used to signify the putting away of a wife or a woman betrothed.
2. Properly divorce is used to point out the separation of married persons; repudiation, to denote the separation either of married people, or those who are only affianced. Divortium est repudium et separatio maritorum; repodium est renunciatio sponsalium, vel etiam est divortium. Dig. 50, 16, 101, 1. Repudiation is also used to denote a determination to have nothing to do with any particular thing; as, a repudiation of a legacy, is the abandonment of such legacy, and a renunciation of all right to it.
3. In the canon law, repudiation is the refusal to accept a benefice which has been conferred upon the party repudiating.
REPUGNANCY, contracts. That which in a contract, is inconsistent with something already contracted for; as, for example, where a man by deed grants twenty acres of land, excepting one, this latter clause is repugnant, and is to be rejected. But if a farm or tract of land is conveyed by general terms, in exception of any number of acres, or any particular lot, it is not repugnant, but valid. 4 Pick. 54; Vide 3 Pick. 272; 6 Cowen, 677.
REPUGNANCY, pleading. Where the material facts stated in a declaration or other pleading, are inconsistent one with another for example, where in an action of trespass, the plaintiff declared for taking and carring away certain timber, lying in a certain place, for the completion of a house then lately built; this declaration was considered bad, for repugnancy; for the timber could not be for the building of a house already built. 1 Salk. 213.
2. Repugnancy of immaterial facts, and what is merely redundant, and which need not have been put into the sentence, and contradicting what was before alleged, will not, in general, vitiate the pleading. Gilb. C. P. 131; Co. Litt. 303 b; 10 East, R. 142; 1 Chit. Pl. 233. See Lawes, Pl. 64; Steph. Pl. 378; Com. Dig. Abatement H 6; 1 Vin. Ab. 36; 19 Id. 45; Bac. Ab. Amendment, &c. E 2 Bac. Ab. Pleas, Ac. I 4 Vin. Ab. h. t.
REPUGNANT. That which is contrary to something else; a repugnant condition is one contrary to the contract itself; as, if I grant you a house and lot in fee, upon condition that you shall not aliens, the condition is repugnant and void. Bac. Ab. Conditions, L.
REPUGNANT CONDITION. One which is contrary to the contract itself; as, if I grant you a house and lot in fee, upon condition that you shall not aliens, the condition is repugnant and void, as being consistent with the right granted.
REPUTATION, evidence. The opinion generally entertained by persons who know another, as to his character, (q. v.) or it is the opinion generally entertained by person; who know a family as to its pedigree, and the like.
2. In general, reputation is evidence to prove, 1st. A man's character in society. 2d. A pedigree. (q. v.) 3d. Certain prescriptive or customary rights and obligations and matters of public notoriety. (q. v.) But as such evidence is in its own nature very weak, it must be supported. 1st. When it relates to the exercise of the right or privilege, by proof of acts of enjoyment of such right or privilege, within the period of living memory; 1 Maule & Selw. 679; 5 T. R. 32; afterwards evidence of reputation may be given. 2d. The fact must be of a public nature. 3d. It must be derived from persons likely to know the facts. 4th. The facts must be general and, not particular. 5th. They must be free from suspicion. 1 Stark. Ev. 54 to 65. Vide 1 Har. & M'H. 152; 2 Nott & M'C. 114 5 Day, R. 290; 4 Hen. & M. 507; 1 Tayl. R. 121; 2 Hayw. 3; 8 S. & R. 159; 4 John. R. 52; 18 John. R. 346; 9 Mass. R. 414; 4 Burr. 2057; Dougl. 174; Cowp. 594; 3 Swanst. 400; Dudl. So. Car. R. 346; and arts. Character; Memory.
REQUEST, contracts. A notice of a desire on the part of the person making it, that the other party shall do something in relation to a contract.
2. In general when a debt exists payable immediately, the law does not impose on the creditor to make a request of payment. But when by the express terms of a contract, a request is necessary, it must be made. And in some cases where there is no express agreement a request is also requisite; as where A sells a horse to B to be paid for on delivery, a demand or request to deliver must be made before B can sustain an action; 5 T. R. 409; 1 East, 209; or, it must be shown that A has incapacitated himself to deliver the horse because he has sold the horse to another person. 10 East. 359; 5 B. & A. 712. On a general promise to marry, a request must be made before action, unless the proposed defendant has married another. 2 Dow. & Ry. 55. Vide Demand.
3. A request, like a notice, ought to be in writing and state distinctly what is required to be done without any ambiguous terms. 1 Chit. Pr. 497, 498.
REQUEST, pleading. The statement in the plaintiff's declaration that a demand or request has been made by the plaintiff from the defendant, to do some act which he was bound to perform, and for which the action is brought.
2. A request is general or special. The former is called the licet saepius requisitus, (q. v.) or "although often requested so to do;" though generally inserted in the common breach to the money counts, it is of no avail in pleading, and the omission of it will not vitiate the declaration. 2 Hen. Bl. 131; 1 Bos. & Pull. 59, 60; and see 1 John. Cas. 100. Whenever it is essential to the cause of action, that the plaintiff should have requested the defendant to perform his contract, such request must be stated in the declaration and proved. The special request must state by whom, and the time and place when it was made, in order that the court may judge of its sufficiency. 1 Str. 89. , Vide Com. Dig. Pleader, C 69, 70; 1 Saund. 33; 2 Ventr. 75; 3 Bos. & Pull. 438; 3 John. R. 207; 1 John. Cas. 319; 10 Mass. R. 230; 3 Day's R. 327; and the articles Demand; Licet saepius requisitus.
REQUEST NOTES, Engl. law. Certain notes or requests from persons amenable to the excise laws, to obtain a permit for removing any excisable goods or articles from one place to another.
REQUISITION. The act of demanding a thing to be done by virtue of some right. 2. The constitution of the United States, art. 4, s. 2, provides that fugitives from justice shall be delivered up to the authorities of the state from which they are fugitives, on the demand of the executive from such state. The demand made by the governor of one state on the governor of another for a fugitive is called a requisition.
RES, property. Things. The terms "Res," "Bona," "Biens," used by jurists who have written in the Latin and French languages, are intended to include movable or personal, as well as immovable or real property. 1 Burge, Confl. of Laws, 19. See Biens; Bona; Things.
RES GESTA, evidence. The subject matter; thing done.
2. When it is necessary in the course of a cause to inquire into the nature of a particular act, or the intention of the person who did the act, proof of what the person said at the time of doing it, is admissible evidence, as part of the res gesta, for the purpose of showing its true character. On an indictment for a rape, for example, what the girl said so recently after the fact as to exclude the possibility of practising on her, has been held to be admissible evidence, as a part of the transaction. East, P. C. 414; 2 Stark. Cas. 241; 1 Stark. Ev. 47; 1 Phil. Ev. 218: Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.
RES INTEGRA. An entire thing; an entirely new or untouched matter. This term is applied to those points of law which have not been decided, which are "untouched by dictum or decision." 3 Meriv. R. 269; 1 Burge on the Confl. of Laws, 241.
RES INTER ALIOS ACTA, evidence. This is a technical phrase which signifies acts of others, or transactions between others.
2. Neither the declarations nor any other acts of those who are mere stran-gers, or, as it is usually termed, any res inter alios ada, are admissible in evidence against any one when the party against whom such acts are offered in evidence, was privy to the act, the objection ceases; it is no longer res inter alios. 1 Stark Ev. 52; 3 Id 1300.
RES TUDIC ATA, practice. The decision of a legal or equitable issue, by a court of competent jurisdiction.
2. It is a general principle that such decision is binding and conclusive upon all other courts of concurrent power. This principle pervades not only our own, but all other systems of jurisprudence, and has become a rule of universal law, founded on the soundest policy. If, therefore, Paul sue Peter to recover the amount due to him upon a bond and on the trial the plaintiff fails to prove the due execution of the bond by Peter, in consequence of which a verdict is rendered for the defendant, and judgment is entered thereupon, this judgment, till reversed on error, is conclusive upon the parties, and Paul cannot recover in a subsequent suit, although he may then be able to prove the due execution of the bond by Peter, and that the money is due to him, for, to use the language of the civilians, res judicata facit ex albo nigrum, ex nigro album, ex curvo redum, ex recto curvum.
3. The constitution of the United States and the amendments to it declare, that no fact, once tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexaminable in any court of the United States than according to the rules of the common law. 3 Pet. 433; Dig. 44, 2; and Voet, Ibid; Kaime's Equity, vol. 2, p. 367; 1 Johns. Ch. R. 95; 2 M. R. 142; 3 M. R. 623; 4 M. R. 313, 456, 481; 5 M. R. 282, 465; 9 M. R. 38; 11 M. R. 607; 6 N. S. 292; 5 N. S. 664; 1 L. R. 318; 8 L. R. 187; 11 L. R. 517. Toullier, Droit Civil Francais, vol. 10, No. 65 to 259.
4. But in order to make a matter res judicata there must be a concurrence of the four conditions following, namely: 1. Identity in the thing sued for. 2. Identity of the cause of action; if, for example, I have claimed a right of way over Blackacre, and a final judgment has been rendered against me, and afterwards I purchase Blackacre, this first decision shall not be a bar to my recovery, when I sue as owner of the land, and not for an easement over it, which I claimed as a right appurtenant to My land Whiteacre. 3. Identity of persons and of parties to the action; this rule is a necessary consequence of the rule of natural justice: ne inauditus condemnetur. 4. Identity of the quality in the persons for or against whom the claim is made; for example, an action by Peter to recover a horse, and a final judgment against him, is no bar to an action by Peter, administrator of Paul, to recover the same horse. Vide, Things adjudged.
RES MANCIPI, Rom. civ. law. Those things which might be sold and alienated, or the property of them transferred from one person to another. The division of things in to res mancipi and res nec mancipi, was one of ancient origin, and it continued to a late period in the empire. Res mancipi (Ulph. Frag. xix.) are praedia in italico solo, both rustic and urban also, jura rusticorum praediorum or servitutes, as via, iter, aquaeductus; also slaves, and four-footed animals, as oxen, horses, &c., qum collo dorsove domantur. Smith, Diet. Gr. and Rom. Antiq. To this list, may be added children of Roman parents, who were, according to the old law, res mancipi. The distinction between res mancipi and nec mancipi was abolished by Justinian in his code. Id.; Coop. Ins. 442.
RES NOVA. Something new; something not before decided.
RES NULLIUS. A thing which has no owner. A thing which has been abandoned by its owner is as much res nullius as if it had never belonged to any one.
2. The first possessor of such a thing becomes the owner, res nullius fit primi occupantis. Bowy. Com. 97.
RES PERIT DOMINO The thing is lost to the owner. This phrase is used to express that when a thing is lost or destroyed, it is lost to the person who was the owner of it at the time. For example, an article is sold; if the seller have perfected the title of the buyer so that it is his, and it be destroyed, it is the buyer's loss; but if, on the contrary, something remains to be done before the title becomes vested in the buyer, then the loss falls on the seller. See Risk.
RES UNIVERSATIS. Those things which belong to cities or municipal corporations are so called; they belong so far to the public that they cannot be appropriated to private use; such as public squares, market houses, streets, and the like. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 446.
RESALE. A second sale made of an article; as, for example, if A sell a horse to B, and the latter not having paid, for him, refuse to take him away, when by his contract he was bound to do so, and then A sells the horse to C.
2. The effect of a resale, is not always to annul the first sale, because, as in this case, B would be liable to A for the difference of the price between the sale and resale. 4 Bing. 722; Blackb. on Sales, 336; 4 M. & G. 898.
RESCEIT. The act of receiving or admitting a third person to plead his right in a cause commenced by two; as when an action is brought against a tenant for life or term of years, the reversioner is allowed to defend. Cowell.
RESCEIT or RECEIT. The admission or receiving of a third person to plead his right in a cause formerly commenced between two other persons; as, when an action is brought against a tenant for life or years, or any other particular tenant, and he makes default, in such case the reversioner may move that he may be received to defend his right, and to plead with the demandant. Jacob, L. D. h. t. Resceit is also applied to the admittance of a plea, when the controversy is betweeen the same two persons. Co. Litt. 192; 3 Nels. Ab. 146.
RESCISSION OF A CONTRACT. The destruction or annulling of a contract.
2. The right to rescind a contract seems to suppose not that the contract has existed only in appearance; but that it has never had a real existence on account of the defects which accompanied it; or which prevented its actual execution. 7 Toul. n. 551 17 Id. n. 114.
3. A contract cannot, in general, be rescinded by one party unless both parties can be placed in the same situation, and can stand upon the same terms as existed when the contract was made. 5 East, 449; 15 Mass. 819; 5 Binn. 355; 3 Yeates, 6. The most obvious instance of this rule is, where one party by taking possession, &c., has received a partial benefit from the contract. Hunt v. Silk. 5 East, 449.
4. A contract cannot be rescinded in part. It would be unjust to destroy a contract in toto, when one of the parties has derived a partial benefit, by a performance of the agreement. In such case it seems to have been the practice formerly to allow the vendor to recover the stipulated price, and the vendee to recover, by a cross-action, damages for the breach of the contract. 7 East, 480, in the note. But according to the later and more convenient practice, the vendee, in such case, is allowed in an action for the price, to give evidence of the inferiority of the goods in reduction of damages, and the plaintiff who has broken his contract is not entitled to recover more than the value of the benefit the defendant has actually derived from the goods or labor; and when the latter has derived no benefit, the plaintiff cannot recover at all. Stark. on Evidence, part 4, tit. Goods sold and delivered; Chitty on Contr. 276.
5. A sale of land, by making a deed for the same, and receiving security for the purchase money, may be rescinded before the deed has been recorded, by the purchaser surrendering the property and, the deed to the buyer, and receiving from him the securities he had given; in Pennsylvania, these acts revest the title in the original owner. 4 Watts, 196, 199. But this appears contrary to the current of decisions in other states and in England. 4 Wend. 474; 2 John. 86; 5 Conn. 262; 4 Conn. 350; 4 N. H. Rep. 191; 9 Pick. 105; 2 H. Bl. 263, 264; Pre. in- Chan. 235; 6 East, 86; 4 B. & A. 672. See 7 East, 484; 1 Mass. R. 101 14 Mass. 282; Whart on's Dig. 119, 120 10 East, 564; 1 Campb. 78, 190; 3 Campb. 451; 3 Starkie, 32; 1 Stark. R. 108; 2 Taunt. 2; 2 New Rep. 136; 6 Moore, 114; 3 Chit. Com. L. 153; 1 Saund. 320, b. note; l Mason, 437; 1 Chip. R. 159; 2 Stark. Ev. 97, 280 8 lb. 1614, 1645 3 New Hamp. R. 455; 2 South, R. 780 Day's note to Templer v. McLachlan, 2 N. R. 141; 1 Mason, 93; 20 Johns. 196; 5 Com. Dig. 631, 636; and Com. Dig. Action upon the case upon Assumpsit, A 1, note x, .p. 829, for a very full note; Com. Dig. Biens, D 3, n. s.
6. As to the cases where a contract will be rescinded in equity on the ground of mistake, see Newl. Cont. 432; or where heirs are dealing with, their expectancies, lbid. 435; sailors with their prize money, Ibid. 443; children dealing with their parents, Ibid. 445; guardians with their wards, Ibid. 448; attorney with his client, Ibid. 453; cestui que trust, with trustee, Ibid. 459; where contracts are rescinded on account of the turpitude of their consideration, Ibid. 469; in fraud of marital rights, Ibid. 424 in fraud of marriage agreement, Ibid. 417 on account of imposition, Ibid. 351; in fraud of creditors, lb. 369; in fraud of purchasers, Ib. 391; in fraud of a deed of composition by creditors, lb. 409.
RESCOUS, crim. law, torts. This word is used synonymously with rescue, (q. v.) and denotes the illegal taking away and setting at liberty a distress taken, or a person arrested by due process of law. Co. Litt. 160.
2. In civil cases when a defendant is rescued the officer will or will not be liable, as the process under which the arrest is made, is or is not final. When the sheriff executes a fi. fa. or ca. sa. he may take the posse comitatus; Show. 180; and, neglecting to do so, he is responsible; but on mesne or original process, if the defendant rescue himself, vi et armis, the sheriff is not answerable. 1 Holt's R. 537; 3 Engl. Com. Law Rep. 179, S. C. Vide Com. Dig. h. t.; Yelv. 51; 2 T. R. 156; Woodf. T. 521 Bac. Ab. Rescue, D; Doct. Pl. 433.
RESCRIPT, conv. A counterpart.
2. In the canon law, by rescripts are understood apostolical letters, which emanate from the pope, under whatever form they may be. The answers of the pope in writing are so called. Diet. Dr. Can. h. v. Vide Chirograph; Counterpart; Part.
RESCRIPTION, French law. A rescription is a letter by which the maker requests some one to pay a certain sum of money, or to account for him to a third person for it. Poth. Du Contr. de Change, n. 225.
2. According to this definition, bills of exchange are a species of rescription. The difference appears to be this, that a bill of exchange is given when there has been a contract of exchange between the drawer and the payee; whereas the rescription is sometimes given in payment of debt, and at other times it is lent to the payee. Id.
RESCRIPTS, civ. law. The answers of the prince at the request of the parties respecting some matter in dispute between them, or to magistrates in relation to some doubtful matter submitted to him.
2. The rescript was differently denominated, according to the character of those who sought it. They were called annotations or subnotations, when the answer was given at the request of private citizens; letters or epistles, when he answered the consultation of magistrates; pragmatic sanctions, when he answered a corporation, the citizens of a province, or a municipality. Lecons El. du Dr. Rom. 53; Code, 1, 14, 3.