REMITTITUR-continued. has originally demanded in his declaration, whence the entry is called a remittitur damna; secondly, to signify the returning or sending back by a Court of Appeal the record and proceedings to the Court whence the appeal came. A common instance of the first description of remittitur is afforded in an action of replevin, wherein the defendant, having pleaded and established an avowry, cognizance, or justification, is entitled to damages; but as that action is generally brought merely to establish a right, the defendant often excuses or remits the payment of those damages to which he would be otherwise entitled, and when he does so, it is thus recorded in the judgment: "And hereupon the said C. D. freely here in Court remits to the said A. B. his damages aforesaid; therefore let the said A. B. be acquitted thereof." The second sort of remittitur is used when, for instance, the House of Lords having affirmed the judgment on a writ of error from the Queen's Bench, returns or remits the record, so that that Court may carry its sentence (so confirmed) into execution. The form is thus entered in the judgment: "Thereupon the record aforesaid, and also the proceedings aforesaid in the same Court of Parliament had in the premises, are remitted by the same Court of Parliament to the Court of our said Lady the Queen, before the Queen herself, wheresoever, &c., to the end, that execution, may be done thereupon, &c." Tidd's Forms, 574, 615, &c. RENDER (from the Fr. rendre, to return). To give up, to yield, to surrender. Thus, when a defendant who has been arrested, and has obtained his liberty by procuring bail, yields himself up again into custody, in order that the bail may be discharged from their obligation and liability, he is said to render himself in discharge of his bail. 1 Arch. Pract. 872. RENOUNCING PROBATE. Refusing to take upon oneself the office of executor or executrix. Refusing to take out probate under a will wherein one has been appointed executor or executrix. RENT (redditus). Defined to be an annual return made by the tenant to the landlord, either in labour, money, or provisions, in consideration of the lands or tenements which such tenant holds of his landlord; from which it follows, that though rent must be a profit, yet there is no occasion that it should consist of money. There are three principal kinds of rents, viz., rent-service, rent-charge, and rentseck. Rent-service consisted of fealty and a certain rent, and this was the only kind RENT-continued. of rent originally known to the Common Law; it was called rent-service, because it was given as a compensation for the services to which the land was originally liable. When a rent was granted out of lands by deed, the grantee had not power to distrain for it, because there was no fealty annexed to such grant. To remedy this inconvenience an express power of distress was commonly inserted in the grant. Rent-seck, or barren-rent, is nothing more than a rent for the recovery of which no power of distress is given either by the rules of the Common Law or the agreement of the parties. This third variety of rent arises where a landlord grants away his rent without at the same time granting his reversion to which that rent was incident. But by stat. Geo. 2, c. 28, a power of distress has been made incident both to rents-charge and to rents-seck. There are the following other minor varieties of rents, viz. : (4.) QUIT RENTS, see that title; RENTAL (said to be corrupted from rent-roll). A roll on which the rents of a manor, or other estate, are registered or set down, and by which the landlord's bailiff collects the same. It contains the lands and tenements let to each tenant, the names of the tenants, and other particulars connected therewith. Cunningham. RENT-ROLL: See title RENTAL. RENTS OF ASSISE (redditus assisx.) The certain and determined rents of the freeholders and ancient copyholders of manors are called rents of assise, apparently because they were assised or made certain, and so distinguished from redditus mobilis, which was a variable or fluctuating rent. 3 Cruise, 314. REPARATIONE FACIENDA. A writ which lay in various cases; as if, for instance, there were three tenants in common, joint tenants, or pro indiviso, of a mill or house which had fallen into decay, and one of the three was willing to repair it, and the other two not; in such case the party who was willing to repair it might have this writ against the other two. Reg. Orig. 153; Cowel. REPLEADER. To plead again. When, after issue has been joined in an action and a verdict given thereon, the pleading is found (on examination) to have miscarried, and failed to effect its proper object, viz., of raising an apt and material question between the parties, the Court REPLEADER-continued. will, on motion of the unsuccessful party, award a repleader, that is, will order the parties to plead de novo, for the purpose of obtaining a better issue. For example, if in an action of debt on bond, conditioned for the payment of £10 108. at a certain day, the defendant pleads the payment of £10 according to the form of the condition; and the plaintiff, instead of demurring, tenders issue upon such payment; it is plain that whether this issue be found for the plaintiff or the defendant, it will remain equally uncertain whether the plaintiff is entitled or not to maintain his action; for in an action for the penalty of a bond, conditioned to pay a certain sum the only material question is whether the exact sum were paid or not, and repayment in part is a question quite beside the legal merits. The Court will after trial grant such repleader only if that will be the means of effecting substantial justice between the parties; nor will the Court grant it where it can give judgment non obstante veredicto on the whole record. If a repleader is granted where it should be refused, or vice versa, that is ground of error. The form of the judgment of repleader is "quod partes replacitent." 2 Arch. Pract. 1553-4. REPLEVIABLE. Capable of being replevied. Property is said to be repleviable or replevisable when proceedings in replevin may be resorted to for the purpose of trying the right to such property. Thus goods taken under a distress are repleviable, for the validity of the taking may be tried in an action of replevin; but goods delivered to a carrier and unjustly detained are not repleviable, for the unjust detention of goods delivered on a contract is not an injury to which the action of replevin applies, but forms the ground of an action of detinue or trover. See Galloway v. Bird, 4 Bing. 299. REPLEVIN (from replegiare, to deliver to the owner upon pledges). A personal action adapted to try the validity of a distress, or to recover the possession of goods unlawfully distrained (Com. Dig." Replevin"). Where goods have been distrained, and the tenant thinks the distress unlawful, and wishes to contest its validity, the action of replevin is the appropriate remedy to resort to for the purpose. The mode adopted is by the aggrieved party making plaint (i.e., complaint) to the sheriff, and his goods are thereupon replevied, that is, delivered to him upon his giving security to prosecute an action against the distrainor for the purpose of trying the legality of the distress; and if upon such trial the right be determined in favour of the latter, then the REPLEVIN continued. goods are returned. In form it is an action for damages for the illegal taking and detaining of the goods and chattels (Com. Dig. tit. "Replevin"; 2 Arch. Pr. 1081; Woodfall's Land. and Ten. lib. 3, c. 6, s. 1. REPLEVY. This word, as used in reference to the action of replevin, signifies to re-deliver goods which have been distrained to the original possessor of them, on his pledging or giving security to prosecute an action against the distrainor for the purpose of trying the legality of the distress. It has also been used to signify the bailing or liberating a man from prison on his finding bail to answer for his forthcoming at a future time. See title REPLEVIN. REPLICATION (replicatio). A reply made by the plaintiff in an action to the defendant's plea, or in a suit in Chancery to the defendant's answer. See also titles ANSWER; REBUTTER. REPORT OF COMMITTEE. The report of a parliamentary committee is that communication which the chairman makes to the House at the close of the investigation upon which it has been engaged: and it is usually in the form of a series of resolutions. In the House of Commons he appears at the Bar shortly after the Speaker has taken the chair, and on being called upon, reads his report, brings it up, and it is received by a vote of the House. REPORTS. The published periodical volumes, which contain the various cases argued and determined in the several Courts of Law and Equity, are so termed. Since the year 1866 inclusive, the chief of these reports are brought out under the superintendence of a council styled the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales; formerly the matter was left to the enterprise of private publishers or of private reporters; and at one time the reports were brought out at the cost of the State. See title YEAR-BOOKS. REPRESENTATION AND REPRESENTATIVE. Representation is the act of one person representing or standing in the place of another; and he who so represents or stands in the place of another is termed his representative. Thus, an heir is the representative of the ancestor; and an executor is the representative of the testator; the heir standing in the place of his deceased ancestor with respect to his realty, the executor standing in the place of his deceased testator with respect to his personalty; and hence the heir is frequently denominated the real representative, and the executor the personal representative. REPRESENTATION AND REPRESEN- In the law of contracts, a representative is an agent; but the term "representative" is little used for this purpose. In Constitutional Law representatives are those chosen by the people to represent their several interests in Parliament. For this use of the word, see title REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT. REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT. The custom of sending representatives to Parliament appears to have grown up at a very early period, but the first extant traces of it are comparatively recent. Thus, (1.) As regards County RepresentationThe earliest extant trace is in 1214, King John having in that year directed the sheriffs to send four discreet knights (quatuor discretos milites) of the county to represent it at the Parliament which was to be held at Oxford; and (2.) As regards Borough RepresentationThe earliest extant trace is in 1265, Simon de Montford having in that year issued writs to the sheriff's directing them to return two citizens or burgesses for every city or borough in their shrievalty; but as Montford was assuming an excess of authority in issuing those writs, that instance of borough representation is not considered of much value, while on the contrary the writs issued to the like effect by Edward I. in 1295 are considered of great value, and they afford the first distinct legal trace that is extant of the summoning of burgesses to Parliament. It has been suggested, however, that all that Edward I. did in 1295 was to remodel, and for the time being complete, an already existing system of borough representation; and the cases of the boroughs of St. Albans (1315) and of Barnstaple (1345) are commonly adduced in support of the earlier origin of borough representation. For the borough of St. Albans in its petition to the King claimed that to send two burgesses to Parliament was its prescriptive right existing from immemorial antiquity, and the borough of Barnstaple in its petition to the King claimed that to send two burgesses to Parliament was its right under a charter of King Athelstan. Now, the interval between 1295 and 1315 being only twenty years, and the interval between 1295 and 1345 being only forty years, it is clear that the claims put forward by these two boroughs in the manner and to the extent that the same were put forward, would have been egregious and self-confuting if borough representation had originated in 1295, or even in 1265. But the probability, or rather certainty, of an earlier origin of borough representation is borne out and corroborated by the REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT -continued. causes which led to the deputies from boroughs being summoned at all, these causes having been the following: The boroughs were increasing in wealth from the growing prosperity of commerce; and the spirit of liberty in England, which had always been strong, and which since Magna Charta grew stronger still, prevented the King or his Government from laying tallages at his own will and pleasure upon the townspeople; and the Crown being in constant want of money, it became a constitutional usage to summon deputies from boroughs for the express and single purpose of granting the necessary tallages. See also titles CONSTITUTION; ELEC- REPRESENTATIVE PEERS. The representative peers are those, who at the commencement of every new parliament are elected to represent Scotland and Ireland in the British House of Lords; namely, sixteen for the former, and twenty-eight for the latter country. At the union of Scotland with England in 1707, and of Ireland in 180, the peers of those two countries were not admitted en masse to seats in the British Parliament, but were allowed to elect a certain number of their body to represent them therein; hence the term "representative peers." The Scottish representative peers must have descended from ancestors who were peers at the time of the union. See also title REPRESENTATION IN PAR- REPRIEVE. The withdrawing, or suspending, for a time sentence of execution against a prisoner. Les Termes de la Ley. The ge REPRISAL: See title MARQUE. REPUTED, REPUTATION. neral, vulgar, or public opinion respecting anything. Thus, land may be reputed part of a manor, though not really so, and a certain district may be reputed a parish or a manor, or be a parish or a manor in reputation, although in reality no parish or manor at all. REPUTED MANOR: See title MANOR. REPUTED OWNER. He who has the general credit or reputation of being the owner or proprietor of goods, is said to have the reputed ownership in them, or to be the reputed owner thereof. REQUEST, LETTERS OF: See title LETTERS OF REQUEST. REQUESTS, COURT OF: See title CONSCIENCE, COURTS OF. RESCOUS, or RESCUE (Fr. recous, rescue). A resistance against lawful authority. As for instance, the taking back by force goods which have been taken under a distress; or the violently taking away a man who is under arrest, and setting him at liberty, or otherwise procuring his escape, are both so denominated; and for which writs of rescous used to lie, and now an ordinary prosecution for the rescue lies against such offenders, offending parties, or rescussors, as they were termed. Co. Lit. lib. 2, cap. 12; Parrett Navigation Company v. Stower, 6 M. & W. 564. RESERVATION. In conveyancing a clause of reservation is a clause whereby the grantor or lessor reserves either to himself or to the lord of the fee some money, chattel, or service not being part of the thing granted or demised or an appurtenant thereto. A reservation, strictly so called, cannot be made in favour of a stranger, although such an attempted reservation might be good as a condition for payment of an annual sum in gross. And it follows from the definition, that a man cannot grant an estate and reserve part thereof, or make a feoffment in fee, and reserve a lease for life; also, that a man cannot reserve rent to his heirs without first reserving it to himself. A reservation is often confounded with an exception, but the true distinction between them is, that in a reservation some new hereditament is created, and that usually of an incorporeal kind, whereas in an exception a slice (so to speak) of an already existing hereditament is merely withheld, or (as the name denotes), excepted, out of the conveyance. See title EXCEPTION. RE-SETTLEMENT: See titles SETTLEMENT OF REALTY; and ESTATE TAIL. RESIDUARY. The remaining portion or residue. Thus residuary estate or property signifies the remaining part of a testator's estate and effects after payment of debts and legacies, &c., or that portion of his estate and effects which has not been particularly devised or bequeathed. A residuary legatee is he to whom a testator bequeaths the residue of his estate and effects, after the payment of such others as are particularly mentioned in the will. Toller, 269. See titles ABATEMENT; LAPSE; LEGACY. RESIGNATION OF LIVINGS: See title SIMONY. RESPITE, TO. To adjourn, to forbear, to forego. &c. Thus to respite an appeal at the sessions appears simply to mean to adjourn it to some future period, or to forbear bringing it on at the time it was first RESPITE, TO-continued. entered for. Respiting of homage is the forbearing to enforce the duty of homage from a tenant who held his lands in consideration of doing homage to his lord. See also title REPRIEVE. RESPITE OF HOMAGE. The forbearing or dispensing with the performance of homage by tenants who held their lands in consideration of performing homage to their lords. Such a respite was, most frequently, granted to those who held by knight service in capite, who paid into the Exchequer every fifth term some small sum of money to be respited from doing their homage. Cowel. RESPONDEAT, or RESPONDEAS, OUSTER. Upon an issue in law arising on a dilatory plea, the form of the judgment is that the defendant answer over, which is thence called a judgment of respondeat ouster. This not being a final judgment, the pleading is resumed, and the action proceeds. Steph. Pl. 115. RESPONDEAT SUPERIOR (let the superior answer). The phrase is thus used in an old work,-Pur insufficiency del bayliff d'un liberty respondeat dominus libertatis, i.e., for the insufficiency of the bailiff of a liberty, let the lord of the liberty answer, (4 Inst. 114; Cowel). The phrase, as used at the present day, simply denotes that the principal is to answer for the act of his agent, special or general, done within the limits of his agency. A landlord also answers for, i.e., defends, his tenant. RESPONDENT. The party who appeals against the judgment of an inferior Court, is termed the appellant; and he who contends against the appeal the respondent. The word also denotes the persons upon whom an ordinary petition in the Court of Chancery is served, and who are, as it were, defendants thereto. The terms respondent and co-respondent are used in like manner in proceedings in the Divorce Court. RESPONDENTIA. A contract by which the master or owner of a ship borrows money upon the goods and merchandize in the vessel, which must necessarily be sold or exchanged in the course of the voyage, and in which case the borrower personally is bound to answer the contract, and is therefore said to take up money at respondentia. The general nature of a respondentia bond is this, the borrower binds himself in a large penal sum, upon condition that the obligation shall be void if he pay the lender the sum borrowed RESPONDENTIA- continued. and so much a month from the date of the bond till the ship arrives at a certain port, or if the ship be lost or captured in the course of the voyage (2 Park on Insurance, 615). But such a contract is now usually called a bottomry bond, although (as the name denotes), the latter phrase was appropriate only where the vessel itself, or bottom, was included in the security. Maude & P. Merch. Sh. 433; Kay's Law of Shipping. See titles BOTTOMRY BOND; HYPOTHE CATION. RESTS. The days of grace which, according to the custom of commercial countries, are allowed for the payment of foreign bills and notes. The word is also used in reference to account between a debtor and a creditor, and in this sense, signifies the making a pause in the account by striking a balance therein (see Butter v. Harrison, Cowp. 566). The account which is taken against a mortgagee in possession is commonly directed to be taken with rests, and he is thereby charged with interest as from the dates of the respective rests upon the balance of proceeds over interest. RESULTING USE: See title USE. RESUMPTION. This word, as used in the stat. of 31 Hen. 6, s. 7, particularly signifies the taking again into the king's hands such lands or tenements as before, upon some false suggestion or other error, he had delivered to the heir, or granted by letters patent to any man (Cowel; Les Termes de la Ley). The policy of the resumption of royal grants of lands, was much agitated after the Revolution in 1688, owing chiefly to the lavish way in which William III. made such grants to the Duke of Portland and others. RETAINER. Is commonly used to signify a notice given to a counsel by an attorney on behalf of the plaintiff or defendant in an action, in order to secure his services as advocate when the cause comes on for trial. This notice is invariably accompanied with a fee called a retaining fee. See also titles ATTORNEY; BARRISTER. RETORNO HABENDO. A writ that lies for the distrainor of cattle, goods, and chattels, &c, (and who, on replevin brought, has proved his distress to be a lawful one), against him who was so distrained, to have them returned to him according to law, together with damages and costs (2 Arch. Pract. 1091). If to the retorno habendo the sheriff returns that the goods, &c., are eloigned, the defendant may then sue out a RETORNO HABENDO continued. writ of capias in withernam, requiring the sheriff to take other goods, &c., of the plaintiff instead of those eloigned; and in the absence of any such other goods, the goods of the pledges may then be taken on a sci, fa. 2 Arch. Pract. 1096. A RETRAXIT (he has withdrawn). retraxit is an open and voluntary renunciation in Court of a suit by the plaintiff, by which he for ever loses his action. A retraxit is very similar to a nolle prosequi, the difference between them being that a retraxit is a bar to any future action for the same cause, whereas a nolle prosequi is not, unless made after judgment. 2 Arch. Pract. 1515; Herber v. Sayer, 2 Dowl. & L. 65, n. (b). See title JUDGMENT. RETURN. This is a word which is commonly applied to writs and judges' summonses, and literally signifies much the same as it does in its popular sense, viz., to return or send back anything. Thus, writs are directed to certain persons (as to sheriffs, for instance), commanding them to perform certain acts, and after a certain time to return the same into the Court again, together with a certificate or memorandum certifying or stating what they have done in pursuance of such command. This memorandum or certificate is written on the back of the writ, and is now commonly called the return to it; so that when a writ is directed to a sheriff commanding him to perform certain acts (as to arrest a man, or to return an M.P. for instance), and the sheriff in due time returns the writ, together with such a memorandum as above described, indorsed thereon, this memorandum is then called the sheriff's return; and for a false return, he is civilly responsible. Before the 2 Will. 4, c. 39, writs for the commencement of personal actions, viz., writs of summons, capias, and detainer, were obliged to be returned upon certain fixed days in term, which were thence called the return days of the term: now, lowever, this is not the case, the return day being regulated by the service, or execution, of the writ. The meaning of the word "returnable," as applied to a judge's summons, is nearly the same, signifying the time appointed by the judge in the summons for hearing the parties on the subject-matter of dispute; the summons is said to be returnable at such time, because the party who takes out such summons returns with it at the time therein appointed to the place whence he took it out. 1 Arch. Pract. 160; Smith's Action at Law, 241. REVE, or GREEVE (from the Sax. |