Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

RECORDATUR

1005

RECOURSE

«o inty court to one of the courts of West minster Hall. '3 BI. Comra. 149; 3 Steph. PI. 522, 666. So termed from the emphatic words of the old writ, by which the sheriff was commanded to cause the plaint to be re corded, and to have the record before the su perior court. Reg. Orig. 56. RECORDATUR. In old English prac tice. An entry made upon a record, m or der to prevent any alteration of it. 1 Ld. Raym 211. An order or allowance that the verdict re turned on the nisi prius roll be iecorded. 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 per sons who presided at the placitum; thence called "rwordeurs." 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 jurisdic tion or a court of record within their pre cincts, associatad to him for his better diiec tion 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 pro ceedings. Also an officer appointed to make record or enrolment of deeds and other legal instru ments authorized by law to be recorded. RECORDER OF LONDON. One of the justices of oyer and terminer, and a jus tice 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 sen tences and judgments of the court therein, and also certifies and records the city cus toms, 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 of sale, chattel mortgages, etc., and the effect of such

records as notice to creditors, purchasers, in cumbrancers, and others interested. RECOUP, or RECOUPE. To deduct, defalk, discount, set off, or keep back; to withhold part of a demand. RECOUPMENT. In practice. Defalca tion 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 plain tiff's damages, for the reason that the plain tiff has not complied with the cross-obliga tions or independent covenants arising under the same contract. Code Ga. 1882, § 2909. It is keeping back something which is due be cause there is an equitable reason to withhold it; and is now uniformly applied where a man brings an action for breach of a contract between him and the defendant; and where the latter can show that some stipulation in the same contract was made by the plaintiff, which he has violated, the defendant may, if he choose, instead of suing in his turn, recovpe his damages arising from the breach committed by the plaintiff, whether they be liquidated or not. 22 Wend. 155. See 3 Ohio St. 841; 12 Ark- 702; 28 Vt. 415. In speaking of matters to be shown in defense, the term "recoupment" is often used as synony mous with "reduction." The term is of French origin, and signifies cutting again, or cutting back, and, as a defense, means the cutting back on the plaintiff's claim by the defendant. Like reduction, it is of necessity limited to the amount of the plain tiff's claim. It is properly applicable to a case where the same contract imposes mutual duties and obligations on the two parties, and one seeks a remedy for the breach of duty by the second, and the second meets the demand by a claim for the breach of duty by the first. 46 Vt. 207. "Recoupment" differs from "set-off" in this respect: that any claim or demand the defendant may have against the plaintiff may be used as a set-off, while it is not a subject for recoupment unless it grows out of the very same transaction which furnishes the plaintiff's cause of action. The term is, as appears above, synonymous with "reduc tion;" but the latter is not a technical term of the law; the word "defalcation," in one of its meanings, expresses the same idea, and is used interchangeably with recoupment. Recoupment, as a remedy, corresponds to the reconvention of the civil law. RECOURSE. The phrase "without re course" is used in the form of making a quali fied or restrictive indorsement of a bill or note. By these words the indorser signifies that, while he transfers bis property in the instrument, he does not assume the responsi bility of an indprser.

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