KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

996

RECKLESSNESS

RECENS INSECUTIO

cation "recht" (or "droit," or "diritto" or "right") is the correlative of "duty" or "ob ligation." In the former sense, it may be considered as opposed to wrong, injustice, or the absence* of law. The word "recht" has the further ambiguity that it is used in con tradistinction to "gesetz," as "jus" is opposed to "lex," or the unwritten law to enacted law. See DEOIT; JUS; RIGHT. RECEOIVE. In French law. The state of an individual who commits a crime or misdemeanor, after having once been con demned for a crime or misdemeanor; a re lapse. Dalloz. RECIPROCAL CONTRACT. A con tract, the parties to which enter into mutual engagements. A mutual or bilateral con tract. RECIPROCAL WILLS. Wills made by two or more persons in which they make re ciprocal testamentary provisions in favor of each other, whether they unite in one will or each executes a separate one. In re Caw ley's Estate, 136 Pa. 628, 20 Atl. 567, 10 L. R. A. 93. RECIPROCITY. Mutuality. 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 cer tain privileges, on condition that its own subjects shall enjoy similar privileges at the hands of the latter state. Sweet RECITAL. The formal statement or set ting forth of some matter of fact, in any deed or writing, in order to explain the rea sons upon which the transaction is founded. The recitals are situated in the premises of a deed, that is, in that part of a deed be tween the date and the habendum, 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 matters of fact as are neces 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 whereas." Steph. PI. 388, 389. RECITE. To state in a written instru ment facts connected with its 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 "re cite" a statute. See Hart v. Baltimore & O. R. Co., 6 W. Va. 348. RECKLESSNESS. Rashness; heedless ness; wanton conduct The state of mind accompanying an act, which either pays no regard to its probably or possibly injurious

receiving any property with the knowledge that it has been feloniously or unlawfully stolen, taken, extorted, obtained, embezzled, or disposed of. 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. RECEPISSE DE COTISATION. In French law. A receipt setting forth the ex tent of the interest subscribed by a member of a mutual insurance company. Arg. Fr. Merc. Law, 571. RECEPTUS. Lat In the civil law. The name sometimes given to an arbitrator, be cause he had been received or chosen to set tle the differences between the parties. Dig. 4, 8; Cod. 2, 56. RECESS. In the practice of the courts, a recess is a short interval or period of time during which the court suspends business, but without adjourning. See In re Gannon, 69 Cal. 541, 11 Pac. 240. In legislative prac tice, a recess is the interval, occurring in (consequence of an adjournment, between the sessions of the same continuous legislative body; not the interval between the final ad 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. RECESSION. The act of ceding back; the restoration of the title and dominion of a territory, by the government which now holds it, to the government from which it was obtained by cession or otherwise. 2 White, Recop. 516. RECESSUS MARIS. Lat. In old Eng lish law. A going back; reliction or retreat of the sea. RECHT. Ger. Right; justice; equity; the whole body of law; unwritten law; law; also a right. There is much ambiguity in the use of this term, an ambiguity which it shares with the French "droit," the Italian "diritto," and the English "right" On the one hand, the term "recht" answers to the Roman "jus," and thus indicates law in the abstract, consid ered 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 be paraphrased by the expressions "justice," "morality," or "equi ty." 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 signifi