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REPULSION 506 BESERVATION, PAPAL a debt, by simply refusing to acknowl- edge the obligation. The 11th amend- ment of the Constitution of the United States prohibits citizens of another or a foreign State from bringing suits against a State in the federal courts; while the individual States, not being independent sovereigns, could only be called to ac- count by a foreign power through the Na- tional Government. Reprisals or war are thus as impossible as a suit at law, and there is really no means by which the States can be compelled to recognize and meet their obligations. Twice in the his- tory of the country have several States taken advantage of this condition of af- fairs — once after the commercial crisis of 1839, in which the United States Bank stopped payment, and again in the years following the Civil War. In the latter period Virginia, North and South Caro- lina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Missis- sippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas were among the defaulters. Virginia, indeed, refused payment chiefly on the ground that no part of its existing debt had been allocated to West Virginia when the lat- ter was separated as a State in 1863; and later acts of repudiation found a local justification in the same grievance. REPULSION, in physics, the force which compels certain bodies or their particles to recede from each other. No repulsion exists between bodies at sensi- ble distances, except when they are in certain electric or magnetic states, in which case the repulsions between them are in the inverse ratio of the square of the distance. At insensible distances, some influence keeps the particles of a body from being in absolute contact, whence results the phenomenon of elas- ticity. The motions produced by heat are also a cause of strong molecular re- pulsion. The molecules of gases are al- ways in a state of mutual repulsion. REPUTED OWNER, in law, one who has to all appearance the actual posses- sion and ownership of property. When a reputed owner becomes bankrupt, all goods and chattels in his possession may in general, with the consent of the true owner, be^ claimed by the trustee for the benefit of the creditors. REQUIEM, in the Roman Catholic Church, a solemn musical mass for the dead, which begins in Latin, "Requiem ^t&i~nam dona eis," etc., "Give to them eternal rest," etc. Mozart, Jomelli, and Cherubini composed famous requiems. REREDOS, the screen at the back of an altar. Also the screen in front of the choir, on which the rood was dis- played, and the wall or screen at the back of a seat. An open hearth, upon which fires were lighted immediately under the louvre. RESACA DE LA PALMA, a ravine in Cameron co., Tex., where on May 9, 1846, the United States troops under Taylor defeated the Mexicans under General Arista, and opened the way t«  Matamoros. RESCRIPTS, answers of the Popes and emperors to questions in jurispru- dence officially propounded to them. Rescripta principis (rescripts of the prince) were one of the authoritative sources of the civil law, and consisted of the answers of the emperor to those who consulted him, either as public func- tionaries or as individuals, on questions of law. They were often applied for by private persons, more especially women and soldiers, to solve their doubts or grant them privileges. The rescripts directed to corporate and municipal bodies were known as pragmaticse sanc' tiones, a name which has found its way into the public law of Europe. RESCUE, in law, is the forcibly and knowingly freeing another from an ar- rest or imprisonment; and it is generally the same offense in the stranger so rescuing, as it v/ould have been in a jailer to have voluntarily permitted an escape. RESECTIOHr, in surgery, the opera- tion of cutting out the diseased parts of a bone at a joint. It frequently obviates the necessity of amputating the whole limb, and, by the removal of the dead parts, leaves the patient a limb which, though shortened, is in the majority of cases better than an artificial one. Re- section, which is one of the triumphs of modern surgery, was performed as early as 1762. RESEDA, the mignonette; the typi- cal genus of Resedacex; from Europe and western Asia; known species, 26. One species, R. phyteivrna, is eaten as a kitchen plant in Greece. R. odorata is the mignonette. R. luteola yields a yel- low dye. RESERVATION, in the United States, a tract of the public land reserved for some special use, such as Indian tribes, national parks, notable battlefields, larga military cemeteries, etc. RESERVATION, PAPAL, the privi- lege, introduced by John XXII. and con- tinued by Clement VI. and Gregory XL, of reserving to the Holy See the power of electing bishops, formerly possessed by the clergy and people of the several cities. Reservations were abolished by the Council of Constance, March €5, 1436.