Page:Black's Law Dictionary (Second Edition).djvu/1008

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RECORDATUR
1000
RECOVERY


prevent any alteration of it. 1 Ld. Raym. 211. An order or allowance that the verdict returned on the nixi prius roll be recorded.

RECORDER, v. L. Fr. In Norman law. To recite or testify on recollection what had previously passed in court. This was the duty of the judges and other principal persons who presided at the placitum; thence called recordeurs. Steph. Pl., Append. note 11.

RECORDER, n. In old English law. A barrister or other person learned in the law, whom the mayor or other magistrate of any city or town corporate. having jurisdiction or a court of record within their precincts, associated to him for his better direction in matters of justice and proceedings according to law. Cowell.

The name 'recorder" is also given to a magistrate, in the judicial systems of some of the states, who has a criminal jurisdiction analogous to that of a police judge or other committing magistrate, and usually a limited civil jurisdiction, and sometimes authority conferred by statute in special classes of proceedings.

Also an officer appointed to make record or enrolment of deeds and other legal instruments authorized by law to be recorded.

RECORDER OF LONDON. One of the justices of oyer and terminer, and a justice of the peace of the quorum for putting the laws in execution for the preservation of the peace and government of the city. Being the mouth of the city, he delivers the sentences and judgments of the court therein, and also certifies and records the city customs, etc. He is chosen by the lord mayor and aldermen, and attends the business of the city when summoned by the lord mayor, etc. Wharton.

RECORDING ACTS. Statutes enacted in the several states relative to the official recording of deeds. mortgages, bills or sale, chattel mortgages, etc., and the effect of such records as notice to creditors, purchasers, icnunihrancers, and others interested.

RECOUP, or RECOUPE. To deduct, defaik, discount, set off, or keep back; to withhold part of a demand.

RECOUPMENT. in practice. DefaiCation or discount from a demand. A keeping back something which is due, because there is an equitable reason to withhold it. Tom- lins.

Recoupment is a right of the defendant to have a deduction from the amount of the plaintiffs damages, for the reason that the plaintiff has not complied with the cross-obligations or independent covenants arising under the same contract. Code Ga. ‘[882, § 2909.

It is keeping back something which is due because there is an equitable reason to withhold it;_ and is now uniformly applied where a m

rings an action for hreach of a cuiirriit tween him and the defendant; and where latter can show that some stipulation in same contract was made by the plain II, he has violated, the defendant may, if H instead suing in his turn, rer-oupe b ages nr rug from the breach commit! the plaintiff, whether they be liquidak-I or Ives v. Van Eppea, 22 weird. (3. S.‘_l And see Barber v. Ciiaprn, 28 Vt 411: ton v. Richctta, 104 A" Auitninn v. Torrey, 0 1; Dietrich v. Ely,

‘ The Wciisville v Ge

1\l(3h0iS v. Duseniiury, 2 Esteil, 47 Miss. 2 in speaking of matters to be shown in fense, the term "rcconpmon synonymous with "rediu in French origin, and signi-hes cutting axfln. curling hack, and, as a defense. means the ting hack on the plnintiifs claim by th- fcudant. Like reduction. it is of a lav ited to the amount of we p|aintiiI's claim. is properly applicable to ti case where the contract imposes mutual duti~«s and utii - on the two parties, and one seeks B. reindy the breach of duty by [be second, and the ond meets the deniarid iiy a claim for - breach of duty by the iirsr. Davenport v. Hubbard. 46 V1. 207, 14 Am. Rep. 620.

"Recoupment" differs from "set on" in th respect: that any claim or deniunri the di.-‘ fendant may have against the plruutifl‘ may be used as a set-off, while it is not a sub'& for recoupment unless it grows out of the very same transaction which tnriiishcs the plaintiffs cause of action. 'lhe term is, iis appears above, synonymous with "i'eliu(-tflIIi,"' but the latter is not .i tocliiiical term of the law; the viord "def.lii.1tion." in one of its meanings, expresses the same idea, and in used interchangeably \\ ith reconpineiit. Rocoupment, as a remedy, cormsponds to the recollyentiuvi or the civil law.


RECOURSE. The phrase "Isllhout recourse" is used in the form of making a quai- lfied or l'EStI‘i(tiVe iridoi-seruent of a bill or note. By these words the indorser sicnihes that, while he transfers his property in the instrument, he does not assume the re.~'ponsi- billty of an indorser. See Lyons v. Fitzpat- rick, 52 La. Ann. 697. 27 South. 111.

RECOUSSE. Fr. 1n French law. Recapture. Errierlg. Traité dea Assur. c. 11 §

RECOVEREE. In old conveyancing. The party who suffered a common recovery.

RECOVERER. The deniandant in a com- mon recovery, after judgment has been given in his favor.

RECOVERY. In its most extensive seine. a recovery is the restoration or vindication of a right existing in a person, by the formal judgment or decree of a competent court, at his instance and suit, or the obtaining, by such judgment, of some right or pr-oierly which has been taken or withheld from him. . This is also called a "true" recovery, to dia-