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RECENS INSECUTIO
996
RECKLESSNESS

receiving any property with the knowledge that it has been feloniously or unlawfully stolen. taken, extolled, obtained, embezzled, or disposed at. Sweet.

RECENS INSECUTIO. In old English law. Fresh suit; fresh pursuit. Pursuit of a thief immediately after the discovery of the robbery. 1 Bl. Comm. 297.

n}':or':1=1ss}': D}: COTISATION. In

PI<‘1'cuciI law. A receipt setting forth the ex-

tent of the interest subscribed by a member of a mutual insurance company. Am. Fr. iiierc. Law, 571.

RECEPTUS. Lat. In the civil law. The

Qnatue sometimes given to an arbitrator, because he had been received or chosen to settle the dntrcrences between the parties. Dig. 4, 8: Cod. 2. 56.

RECESS. In the practice of the courts, a recess is a sholt interval or period of time during which the court suspends business, but without nd_iournin.<;. See In re Gannon, ti!) Cal. 541. 11 Pan. 240. In legislative prat.~ tice, a recess is the interval, occurring in lconsequence of an adjournment, between the sessions of the same continuous legislative body; not the interval bet" ceu the final ml- journment of one body and the convening of another at the next regular session. See Tip- ‘ton V Parker, 71 Ark. 193, 74 S. W. 298.

R]-ZCESSION. The act of ceding back; the resto ~ation of the title and dominion of a territory, by the government which now holds it. to the government from which it was obtained by cessiou or otherwise. 2 White, Recop. 516.

RECESSUS MARIS.

Lat. In old English law. A going hack; relictiou or retreat of the sea. R]-ECHT. Ger. Right; justice; equity:

the whole body of law: unwritten law; law; also a right.

There is much ambiguity in the use of this teun, an ambiguity which it shares with the French "droit." the Italian "(]il‘itlO," and the English "rlgl1t." On the one hand, the term "reclLt" answers to the Roman "ju.9," and thus indicates law in the abstract, considered as the foundation of all rights, or the complex of underlying moral principles which impart the character of justice to all positive law, or give it an ethical content. Taken in this abstract sense, the term may be an adjective. in which case it is equiva- lent to the English "just." or a noun, in which case it may he paraphrased by the expressions "justice." "morality," or "equit_v." On the other hand, it serves to point out a right; that is, a power, privilege, facul- ty, or demand, inherent in one person, and incident upon another. In the latter signification "reclzt" (or "drait," or "diritta," or "right") is the correlative of "duty" or "o - ligation." In the former sense, it may be considered as opposed to Wrong justice, or the absence of law. The word "rcz.‘ILt" has the further ambiguity that it is used in contradistinction to "geset2'," as "jus" is opposed to "lez," or the unwritten law to enacted law. See Dnoxr; Jus; lixonr.

RECIDIVE. In French law. The state of an individual who commits a crime or misdemeanor, after having once been condemned for a crime or misdemeanor; I re- lapse. Da.lJoz.

RECIPROCAL CONTRACT. A contract, the parties to which enter into mutual engagements. A mutual or bllatciai contract.

RECIPROCAL "WILLS. "'llis made by two or more persons in which they make reciprocal testamentary provisions in favor of each other, whether they unite in one will or each executes a separate one. In re CHIV- ley's Estate, i36 Pa. 628, 20 At]. 567, 10 L. R. A. 93.

RECIPROCITY. lliutuallty. The term is used in international law to denote the re- lation existing between two states when each of them gives the subjects of the other certain priviloges. on condition that its own subjects shall enjoy similar privileges at the hands of the latter state. Sweet.

RECITAL. The formal statement or setting forth of some matter of tact, in any deed or writing. in order to explain the reasons upon which the transaction is founded. The recitals are situated in the premises of a dead, that is. in that part of a deed between the date and the habcndum, and they usually commence with the formal word "whereas." Brown.

The formal preliminary statement in a deed or other instrument, of such deeds, agreements, or iuntters of fact as are neccs» sary to explain the reasons upon which the transaction is founded. 2 Bl. Comm. 298

In pleading. The statement of matter as introductory to some positive allegation, beginning in declarations with the words. "For that wliev-cos." Steph. Pl. 383. 389.

RECITE. To state in a written instru- ment tacts connected with ite inception, or reasons for its being made. Also to quote or set forth the words or the contents of some other instrument or document; as, to "recite" a statute. See Hart v. Baltimore 6: O. R. Co., 6 W. Va. 848.

RECKLESSNESS. Rashness; headless- ness; Wanton conduct. The state of mind accompanying an act, which either pays no regard to its probably or possibly injurious