RECUSANTS. This word, as used in the statutes, has been expounded to mean all those who separate from the church as established by the laws of this realm (Les Termes de la Ley). Numerous laws against recusants were passed in the persecuting times of Charles II., in which reign these recusants were chiefly non-conformists. The term does not, in fact, appear to have ever been applied to Roman Catholics or Jews, but only to Protestant Dissenters.

See title STATUTES ECCLESIASTICAL.

REDDENDUM. The reddendum is a clause in a deed by which the grantor reserves something to himself out of what he has granted before. It is situated between the habendum and the covenants in

deeds, and usually begins either with the word "yielding" or the word "rendering;" thus in a lease, that clause which commences with the words "yielding and paying" is the reddendum. 4 Cruise, 26.

REDDITION. A judicial confession and acknowledgment that the land or thing in demand belongs to the demandant, and not to the person surrendering. 34 & 35 Hen, 8, c. 24; Cowel.

REDDITUS SICCUS (dry rent, barren rent). A rent for the recovery of which no power of distress is given by the rules of the Common Law (3 Cru. Dig. 314). It is also sometimes called rent seck (Litt. sec. 217, 218. See also Co. Litt. 143a, 143 B, 153 a, n. (1). But a power of distress for this rent was given by stat. 4 Geo. 2, c. 28. For the other varieties of rent, see title RENT.

REDEEMABLE RIGHTS. Such rights as return to the grantor of lands, &c, on repayment of the sum for which such rights were granted. Jacob; Tomlins.

RE-DEMISE: See title DEMISE.

REDEMPTION, EQUITY OF: See titles EQUITY OF REDEMPTION; AND MORTGAGE.

RE-DISSEISIN. A disseisin made by a person who had once before been adjudged to have disseised the same man of his lands or tenements, for which there lay a special writ, termed a writ of re-disseisin. Reg. Orig. 204; Cowel.

REDUCTION. In French Law, when a parent gives away, whether by gift inter vivos or by legacy, more than his portion disponible (see that title), the donee or legatee is required to submit to have his gift reduced to the legal proportion.

See also title HOTCHPOT.

RE-ENTRY. The entering again into or resuming possession of premises. Thus in leases there is a proviso for re-entry of

RE-ENTRY-continued.

the lessor on the tenant not paying the rent, or not performing the covenants contained in the lease; and by virtue of such proviso the lessor may take the premises into his own hands again if the rent be not paid, or the covenants be not observed by the lessee; and this taking possession again is termed re-entry. 2 Cruise, 8: Cowel.

See also title ENTRY.

RE-EXCHANGE. The like sum of money payable by the drawer of a bill of exchange, which is returned protested back again to the place whence it was drawn, for the exchange of the sum mentioned in the bill. Lex Mercat. 98.

RE-EXTENT. A second extent made on lands and tenements on complaint being made that the former extent was only partially performed. Cowel.

See title EXTENT.

REFERENCE. The fact of something being referred. Thus, in the proceedings in a suit in equity, or in an action at law, matters frequently arise which would take up too much of the time of the Court to be brought before it for its decision; and such matters are therefore referred to the masters of the respective Courts, or to special referees, to be inquired into by them. The order of the Court authorizing such a reference is termed an order of reference.

See title ARBITRATION.

REFERRING A CAUSE. When a case or action involves matters of account or other intricate details which require minute examination, and for that reason are not fit to be brought before a jury, it is not unusual to refer all matters in difference between the parties to the decision of an arbitrator, and in such a case the cause is said to be referred.

See also title REFERENCE. REFORMATORY.

Under the stat. 29 & 30 Vict. c. 117, s. 14, where a juvenile, i.e., person to appearance under 16 years of age, is convicted, whether on indictment or in a summary manner, of an offence punishable with penal servitude or imprisonment, and is sentenced to be imprisoned for the period of ten days or longer, he may be sent to a reformatory school of his own religious persuasion for between two and five years.

REFRESHER-continued.

poses upon counsel the necessity of reperusing their briefs, in order to refresh their memory upon the various points of the cause; in consideration of which it is usual for the attorney to mark on the briefs which have so been delivered a small additional fee, thence termed a refresher fee.

REGAL FISHES: See title FISH ROYAL.

REGALIA. The royal rights of a king, the king's prerogative; and regalia facere is to do homage or fealty when he is invested with the regalia (Cowel). The word is also occasionally used to denote the emblems of sovereignty.

REGARDANT (Fr. looking at). Thus, a villein regardant was called regardant to the manor, because he was charged with doing all base services within the same, and with seeing that the same was freed from all things that might annoy it. Co. Litt. 120; Cowel.

See also title VILLENAGE. REGE INCONSULTO. A writ issued from the king to the judges, commanding them not to proceed in a cause which may prejudice the king without the king being advised. 18 Vin. Abr. 275, 280.

RÉGIME DOTAL. In French Law, the dot, being the property which the wife brings to the husband as her contribution to the support of the burdens of the marriage, and which may either extend as well to future as to present property, or be expressly confined to the present property of the wife, is subject to certain regulations which are summarized in the phrase régime dotal. The husband has the entire administration during the marriage; but as a rule where the dot consists of immoveables, neither the husband nor the wife, nor both of them together, can either sell or mortgage it. The dot is returnable upon the dissolution of the marriage, whether by death or otherwise.

In

RÉGIME EN COMMUNAUTÉ. French Law is the community of interests between husband and wife which arises upon their marriage. It is either (1) legal or (2) conventional, the former existing in the absence of any agreement properly so called and arising from a mere declaration of community, the latter arising from an agreement properly so called. Legal community extends to all the moveable and immoveable property of both parties (and the profits thereof) at the time of and during the marriage, and also to all the debts with which either spouse is burdened at the date of the marriage, or which the

RÉGIME EN COMMUNAUTÉ-contd.

husband or the wife (with his consent) contracts during the marriage. Under such a community, the husband has the sole management and disposal of the property, but he cannot give them away for nothing, unless it should be for the advancement of the children of the marriage. This community is destroyed by a judicial separation de corps et de biens, and the wife recovers the free administration of her goods. Conventional community may be as diverse as the parties choose by their conventions to make it, these conventions most commonly regulating the amount of property which shall be held in common, excluding the after-acquired property from it, or making other such restrictive regulations.

REGISTER. A book wherein things are registered for the preservation of the same; thus a parish register is that book wherein the baptisms, marriages, and burials are registered in the respective parishes; there is also a book wherein are entered the various forms of original and judicial writs, which is termed the register of writs. Co. Litt. 159; Cowel.

See also the two following titles.

REGISTRAR. An officer who has the custody or keeping of a registry. There are several officers of this kind connected with the law. The principal are the registrars of the Courts of Chancery and Bankruptcy and the registrars of births, deaths, and marriages. The registrar of the Court of Chancery is an officer with whom, in certain cases, the defendants are compelled to enter their appearances; and by him the decrees of the Court are drawn up, signed, and passed. As to the duties of the registrars of the Court of Bankruptcy, the reader is referred to the Bankruptcy Act, 1869. The registrars of births, deaths, and marriages are officers appointed under the 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 86, 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 22, and 3 & 4 Vict. c. 92, for the purpose of keeping in their respective districts an exact register of every birth, death, and marriage which may take place therein. The registrars of each union are subjected to the supervision of their "superintendent registrar," and these again are subject to the authority of a superior officer appointed under the great seal, and holding office during the pleasure of the Crown, called the "Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England." See the statutes above referred to.

REGISTRY OF DEEDS. By certain Acts of Parliament all deeds and conveyances (with some exceptions) which affect lands in the counties of Middlesex and

REGISTRY OF DEEDS-continued. York, are required to be registered; that is, an abstract of their substance is required to be entered in a register kept for that purpose. The object of this is that purchasers and mortgagees of lands in these counties by referring to this register may have an opportunity of ascertaining whether the lands they are about to purchase are in any way incumbered or otherwise affected by any prior transactions; and therefore by these statutes, deeds and conveyances are void against subsequent purchasers or mortgagees, unless registered before the conveyances under which such purchasers or mortgagees claim, unless, indeed, the subsequent purchaser or mortgagee had notice of the prior charge (Le Neve v. Le Neve, 2 Wh. & Tud. L. C. 28). By a Bill of the present session it was proposed to make the registration of titles to land universal; but the Bill has fallen through for the present.

REGRATING (from re, again, and the Fr. grater, to scrape). In one sense this word signifies the scraping or dressing of cloth or other goods for the purpose of selling them again. But in its more ordinary sense it means the offence of buying or getting into one's hands at a fair or market any provisions, corn, or other dead victual with the intention of selling the same again in the same fair or market, or in some other within four miles thereof, at a higher price; and he who commits this offence is termed a regrator. 3 Inst. 195; 5 Edw. 6, c. 14.

See also title FORESTALLING.

RE-HEARING. When a party seeks to have a decree of the Court of Chancery reversed or altered he may petition for a re-hearing; that is, for the cause to be heard again. Such re-hearing is usually had before the same judge that previously heard the case. It is obtained upon a petition to the Lord Chancellor, accompanied with the certificate of two counsel, one of whom, at least, must have been engaged on the occasion of the former hearing; and the usual ground of it is that there has been an oversight on the part of the judge, resulting in a miscarriage of justice. The certificate is, however, in the most general form, merely stating that the cause is a proper one to be re-heard. In case the re-hearing is that of an order made on motion, then no certificate of counsel is required, and neither is any petition of appeal necessary, but counsel merely moves the Court of Appeal on motion with notice.

See also title APPEAL.

REJOINDER: See title REBUTTER.

REJOINING GRATIS. Rejoining voluntarily, or without being required to do so by a rule to rejoin. It would seem that when a defendant is under terms to rejoin gratis, it means that he must deliver a rejoinder, without putting the plaintiff to the necessity of obtaining a rule to rejoin. Atkins v. Anderson, 10 M. & W. 12; Lush's Pr. 396.

RELATOR. A rehearser or teller. It is sometimes used to signify an informer; as in the case of an information being filed by the Attorney-General at the relation of some informant, such informant is termed a relator, and the information is said to be at the relation of such person. Such informations are usually laid in the Court of Chancery for the abatement of a public nuisance; the corresponding proceeding in the Courts of Common Law is called an indictment.

RELEASE. A release is a discharge or conveyance of a man's right in lands or tenements to another who already has an estate in possession; as if A. has a lease of lands for a term of years, and B. as the remainder or reversion in fee; here the fee simple of the lands may become vested in A. by B. executing a release of them to A. (4 Cruise, 84). Such a release is said to operate by enlargement of the estate of A. For the other varieties of a release, and the incidents attaching thereto, see title CONVEYANCES.

RELEASE TO USES. The conveyance by a deed of release to one party to the use of another is so termed. Thus, when a conveyance of lands was effected, by those instruments of assurance termed a lease and release, from A. to B. and his heirs, to the use of C. and his heirs, in such case C. at once took the whole fee simple in such lands; B., by the operation of the Statute of Uses, being made a mere conduit pipe for conveying the estate to C.

See title CONVEYANCES.

RELIEF. A fine or acknowledgment, which, during the feodal system, the heir paid to the lord on being admitted to the feud which his ancestor possessed; it generally consisted of houses, arms, money, and the like; it was called a relief, either because it raised up and re-established the inheritance, or because by it the heir took up or lifted up the inheritance, or in the words of the feodal writers, "incertam et caducam hereditatem relevabat" (Knight, 14). It seems that a relief is still payable, if demanded. Wms. R. P. p. 120.

REM, IN: See title IN PERSONAM,

REMAINDER. A remainder is defined

REMAINDER-continued.

to be an estate limited to take effect and be enjoyed after another estate is determined. As if a man who is seised of lands in fee simple grants them to A. for twenty years, and after the determination of that term, to B. and his heirs for ever; in this case the estate of A. (that is, the interest which A. has in the lands for the twenty years) is termed an estate for years; and the estate of B. (that is, the interest which B. has in the lands after the end of the twenty years) is termed a remainder. In order to constitute or to create a remainder, it is a rule that there must be some particular estate (as it is termed) to support it, that is, at the time of creating a remainder there must be some estate (in the same lands to which the remainder applies) created at the same time to precede the remainder, which preceding estate is termed the particular estate. Thus, in the above instance (of a man who is seised of lands in fee simple granting them to A. for twenty years, and after the determination of that term to B. and his heirs for ever), the estate of A. is termed the particular estate, because it is only a small part, or particule, of the inheritance, the residue or remainder of which is granted over to B. The necessity of creating this preceding particular estate, in order to make a good remainder, arises from this plain reason, that the word "remainder" is a relative expression, and implies that some part of the thing is previously disposed of; for where the whole is conveyed at once, there cannot possibly exist a remainder. Remainders are said to be either vested or contingent. Vested remainders (or remainders executed) are those on the creation of which a present interest passes to the party, though to be enjoyed at a future time, and by which the estate is invariably fixed to remain to a determinate person after the particular estate is spent. As if an estate is conveyed to A. for twenty years, remainder to B. in fee; here B.'s is a vested remainder, which nothing can defeat or set aside; so that a person entitled to a vested remainder has an immediate fixed right of future enjoyment, that is, an estate in præsenti, though it is only to take effect in possession and receipt of the profits at a future period. Contingent (or executory) remainders are such as are limited to take effect in favour of a dubious and uncertain person; as if an estate is conveyed to A. for life, with remainder to B.'s eldest son (then unborn) in tail; this is a contingent remainder, for it is quite uncertain whether B. will have a son or not; but the instant that a son is born, the remainder is no longer contingent, but vested (2 Cruise, 231). These

REMAINDER-continued.

two varieties of remainder are defined in Williams's Real Property as follows:

(1.) A vested remainder is one which is always ready from its creation to its close to come into possession the moment the prior estate determines;

(2.) A contingent remainder is one which is not always so ready.

See also titles CONTINGENT REMAIN-
DER; VESTED REMAINDER.

REMANET. A remnant, that which remains. Thus the causes which are deferred being tried from one term to another, or from one sittings to another, are termed remanets. 1 Arch. Pract. 375.

cers, or clerks, of the Exchequer, who were formerly called clerks of the remembrance. One was called the king's remembrancer; the second, the lord treasurer's remembrancer; and the third, the remembrancer of the first fruits. The king's remembrancer entered in his office all recognizances taken before the barons for any of the king's debts, or for appearances, or for observing of orders; he wrote process against the collectors of customs, subsidies, and fifteenths for the accounts, &c. The lord treasurer's remembrancer made process against all sheriffs, escheators, receivers, and bailiffs, for their account; also of fieri facias and extent for any debts due to the king either in the pipe or with the auditors, &c. The remembrancer of the first fruits took all compositions and bonds for the first fruits and tenths, and made process against such as did not pay the same. Cowel.

RÉMÉRÉ: See title RACHAT.

REMITTER (remittere, to send back). In real property law is a restitution of one who has two titles from the latter defective title, in respect of which he is in possession, to the former complete title which he has to the lands, but in respect of which he is not in possession. It is necessary in order to the principle of remitter taking effect, that the latter title should have come to the party by the act of law; for if it came to him by his own act, he is taken to have waived his former or more ancient title. Co. Litt. 358.

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. 4 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;
(5.) GROUND RENTS, see that title;
(6.) FEE FARM RENTS, see that title; and
(7.) RENTS OF ASSIZE, 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