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resolutions committee A committee charged with screening the original main motions offered for a convention's consideration. - Also termed reference committee; screening committee.

resolutive condition See resolutory condition under CONDITION (2).

resolutory (ri-zahl-ya-tor-ee), adj. Operating or serving to annul, dissolve, or terminate <a resolutory clause>.

resolutory condition See CONDITION (2).

resolutory condition (ra-zol-ya-tor-ee). Civil law. A condition that upon fulfillment terminates an already enforceable obligation and entitles the parties to be restored to their original positions. Also termed resolutive condition; dissolving condition. Cf. potestative condition.

resolving clause The clause that introduces a resolution's operative text, usu. beginning with "Resolved, That A resolving clause is comparable to a statute's enacting clause. Also termed operative clause. See enacting clause; RESOLUTION (1). Cf. PREAMBLE (1).

resolving dause See CLAUSE.

resort Something that one turns to for aid or refuge <the court of last resort>. - resort, vb.

RESPA (res-pa). abbr. REAL ESTATE SETTLEMENT PROCEDURES ACT.

respite (res-pit). 1. A period of temporary delay; an extension of time. 2. A temporary suspension of a death sentence; a reprieve. 3. A delay granted to a jury or court for further consideration of a verdict or appeal. 4. Civil law. An agreement between a debtor and several creditors for an extension of time to repay the various debts. La. Civ. Code art. 3084. - respite, vb.

responde book Scots law. The chancellery s record of all duties payable by heirs who obtained royal warrants for possession of the decedent s lands.

respondeat ouster (ri-spon-dee-at ow-star). [Law Latin "let him make further answer"] An interlocutory judgment or order that a party who made a dilatory plea that has been denied must now plead on the merits. -Also termed judgment respondeat ouster. "In case offelony, if the plea be held bad, the judgment is respondeat ouster; or rather, as the defendant generally pleads over to the felony, the jury are charged again, and that at the same time with the issue on the plea of autrefois acquit, to inquire of the second issue, and the trial proceeds as if no plea in bar had been pleaded." 1 Joseph Chitty, A Practical Treatise on the Criminal Law 461 (2d ed. 1826).

respondeat superior (ri-spon-dee-at soo-peer-ee-ar or sa-peer-ee-or). [Law Latin let the superior make answer]. Torts. The doctrine holding an employer or principal liable for the employees or agents wrongful acts committed within the scope of the employment or agency. - Also termed master-servant rule. See SCOPE OF EMPLOYMENT. Most courts have made little or no effort to explain the result, and have taken refuge in rather empty phrases, such as he who does a thing through another does it himself,or the endlessly repeated formula of respondeat superior, which in itself means nothing more than look to the man higher up. W. Page Keeton et aI., The Law of Torts § 69, at 500 (5th ed. 1984).

respondent 1. The party against whom an appeal is taken; APPELLEE. In some appellate courts, the parties are designated as petitioner and respondent. In most appellate courts in the United States, the parties are designated as appellant and appellee. Often the designations depend on whether the appeal is taken by writ of certiorari (or writ of error) or by direct appeal. 2. The party against whom a motion or petition is filed. Cf. PETITIONER. 3. At common law, the defendant in an equity proceeding. 4. Civil law. One who answers for another or acts as another s security.

respondent bank A bank, association, or other entity that exercises fiduciary powers, that holds securities on behalf of beneficial owners, and that deposits the securities for safekeeping with another bank, associa-tion, or other entity exercising fiduciary powers. SEC Rule 14a-1(k) (17 CFR § 240.14a-1(k)).

respondent bank See BANK.

respondentia (ree-spon-den-shee-a or res-pon-). [Law Latin fro Latin respondere to answer] A loan secured by the cargo on ones ship rather than the ship itself. Cf. BOTTOMRY.

respondentia bond See BOND (2).

respondentia bond (re-spon-den-shee-a-or ree-). A contract containing the pledge of a ship's cargo; a mortgage of a ship's cargo. Cf. bottomry bond."A respondentia bond is a loan upon the pledge of the cargo, though an hypothecation of both ship and cargo may be made in one instrument; and generally, it is only a personal obligation on the borrower, and is not a specific lien on the goods, unless there be an express stipulation to that effect in the bond; and it amounts, at most, to an equitable lien on the salvage in case of loss." 3 James Kent, Commentaries on American Law *354-55 (George Comstock ed., 11th ed. 1866).

respondere non debet (ri-spon-da-ree non deb-at). [Latin] Common-law pleading. The prayer of a plea in which the defendant insists that he or she does not have to answer - because of a privilege, for example.

responsa prudentium (ri-spon-sa proo-den-shee-am). [Latin "the answers of the learned"] Roman law. The opinions and judgments of eminent lawyers or jurists on questions oflaw addressed to them. The responsa prudentium originally constituted part of the early Roman civil law. Roman citizens seeking legal advice, as well as magistrates and judges, often referred legal questions to leading jurists so as to obtain their opinions (responsa). The responsa of some leading jurists were collected, much in the manner of caselaw digests, and many of them passed into Justinians Digest. The phrase responsa prudentium gradually migrated to the common law, but today it is of primarily historical use. Also spelled responsa prudentum. [T]he judex, or as we would now call him, the referee, might have no technical knowledge of law whatever. Under such conditions the unlearned judicial magistrates naturally looked for light and leading to the jurisconsults who instructed them through their responsa prudentium, the technical name given to their opinions as experts, which were promptly recorded on tablets by their students or disciples." Hannis Taylor, The Science of Jurisprudence 90-91 (1908). "In [c]assical Latin) responsa prudentium is the usual form, but most of the legal sources ... have prudentum following the example of Blackstone (1765)." The Oxford English Dictionary(2d ed. 1989).

responsalis (res-pon-say-lis). [Law Latin). One who appears and answers for another. 2. Eccles. law. A proctor. See APOCRISARlUS.

response A patent applicants answer to an office action, usu. countering the examiners rejections and objections and often amending the claims.

responsibility 1. LIABILITY (1). 2. Criminal law. A persons mental fitness to answer in court for his or her actions. See COMPETENCY. 3. Criminal law. Guilt. - Also termed (in senses 2 & 3) criminal responsibility. responsible, adj. "[As for] the ambiguities of the word responsibility, ... it is, think, still important to distinguish two of the very different things this difficult word may mean. To say that someone is legally responsible for something often means only that under legal rules he is liable to be made either to suffer or to pay compensation in certain eventualities. The expression he ll pay for it covers both these things. In this the primary sense of the word, though a man is normally only responsible for his own actions or the harm he has done, he may be also responsible for the actions of other persons if legal rules so provide. Indeed in this sense a baby in arms or a totally insane person might be legally responsible ~- again, if the rules so provide; for the word simply means liable to be made to account or pay and we might call this sense of the word legal accountability. But the new idea - the programme of eliminating responsibility .. is not, as some have feared, meant to eliminate legal accountability: persons who break the law are not just to be left free. What is to be eliminated are enquiries as to whether a person who has done what the law forbids was responsible at the time he did it and responsible in this sense does not refer to the legal status of accountability. It means the capacity, so far as this is a matter of a mans mind or will, which normal people have to control their actions and conform to law. In this sense of esponsibility a mans responsibility can be said to be impaired." H.LA. Hart, Changing Conceptions of Responsibility," in Punishment and Responsibility 186, 196-97 (1968).

responsible broker-dealer A broker-dealer who communicates bids or offers on the floor of a stock exchange at the designated location for trading in a reported security or who, in an off-exchange transaction, communicates the bid or offer as either a principal or an agent, for its own or another's account. SEC Rule 11AcI-1(a)(21) (17 CFR § 240.11Ac1-1(a)(21)".

responsible broker-dealer See BROKER.

responsive adj. Giving or constituting a response; answering <the witnesss testimony is not responsive to the question>.

responsive action A patent applicants answer to an examiner rejections in an office action. To be responsive, the answer must address all of the examiners issues in detail, rather than merely submitting substitute claims.

responsive pleading A pleading that replies to an opponent s earlier pleading. See ANSWER.

responsive pleading See PLEADING (1).

responsive verdict See VERDICT.

rest 1. (Of a litigant) to voluntarily conclude presenting evidence in a trial <after the police officers testimony, the prosecution rested>. 2. (Of a litigant) to voluntarily conclude presenting evidence in (a trial) <the defense rested its case after presenting just two witnesses. In sense 1, the verb is intransitive; in sense 2, it is transitive.

Restatement One of several influential treatises published by the American Law Institute describing the law in a given area and guiding its development. The Restatements use a distinctive format of black-letter rules, official comments, illustrations, and reporters notes. Although the Restatements are frequently cited in cases and commentary, a Restatement provision is not binding on a court unless it has been officially adopted as the law by that jurisdictions highest court. Restatements have been published in the following areas oflaw: Agency, Conflict of Laws, Contracts, Employment Law, Foreign Relations Law of the United States, Judgments, Law Governing Lawyers, Property, Restitution, Security, Suretyship and Guaranty, Torts, Trusts, and Unfair Competition. Also termed Restatement of the Law. "We speak of the work which the organization should undertake as a restatement; its object should not only be to help make certain much that is now uncertain and to simplify unnecessary complexities, but also to promote those changes which will tend better to adapt the laws to the needs of life. The character of the restatement which we have in mind can be best described by saying that it should be at once analytical, critical and constructive." Committee on the Establishment of a Permanent Organization for the Improvement of the law (Elihu Root, chairman), Report Proposing the Establishment of an American Law Institute, 1 All Proc. 14 (1923).

restater An author or reporter of a Restatement.

restaur (res-tor). 1. The recourse that insurers (esp. marine underwriters) have against each other according to the date of their insurance. 2. The recourse that marine insurers have against a ships master if a loss occurs through the masters fault or negligence. 3. The recourse that one has against a guarantor or other person under a duty to indemnify. - Also spelled restor.

restitutio in integrum (res-ta-t[y]oo-shee-oh in in-ta¬gram). [Latin] Roman & civil law. Restoration to the previous condition or the status quo. In Roman law, a praetor could accomplish this by annulling a contract or transaction that was strictly legally valid but inequitable and by restoring the parties to their previous legal relationship. The phrase is still sometimes used in American law (esp. in Louisiana) when a court annuls a contract and orders restitution on equitable grounds.

restitution 1. A body ofsubstantive law in which liability is based not on tort or contract but on the defendants uniust enrichment. See UNJUST ENRICHMENT. 2. The set of remed ies associated with that body of law, in which the measure of recovery is usu. based not on the plaintiffs loss, but on the defendants gain. Cf. COMPENSATION; DAMAGES. 3. Return or restoration of some specific thing to its rightful owner or status. 4. Compensation for loss; esp., full or partial compensation paid by a criminal to a victim, not awarded in a civil trial for tort, but ordered as part ofa criminal sentence or as a condition of probation. - restitutionary, ad). "The term restitution appears in early decisions, but general recognition probably began with the publication of the Restatement of Restitution [in 1937]. The term is not wholly apt since it suggests restoration to the successful party of some benefit obtained from him. Usually this will be the case where relief is given, but by no means always. There are cases in which the successful party obtains restitution of something he did not have before, for example a benefit received by the defendant from a third person which justly should go to the plaintiff." 1 George E. Palmer, The Law of Restitution § 1.1, at 4 (1978). Restitution is an ambiguous term, sometimes referring to the disgorging of something which has been taken and at times referring to compensation for injury done. Often, the result under either meaning of the term would be the same. If the plaintiff has been defrauded into paying $1,000 to the defendant, his loss and the defendants gain coincide. Where they do not coincide, as where the plaintiff is out of pocket more than the defendant has gained and the defendants conduct is tortious, the plaintiff will recover his loss in a quasi-contractual or equitable action for restitution. Unjust impoverishment as well as unjust enrichment is a ground for restitution.

restitution damages Damages awarded to a plaintiff when the defendant has been unjustly enriched at the plaintiff's expense. "Suppose A pays money to B in pursuance of a contract which turns out to be void, or perhaps is subsequently frustrated: clearly A cannot sue B for breach of contract. B's promise to perform his side of the bargain is vitiated by the mistake or the frustrating event, so A's lost expectations are losses which he must just put up with. But his claim to repayment of the money is evidently much stronger: for this money is a tangible loss to A and a tangible enrichment to B. So in this sort of case the money will often be recoverable, though English lawyers think of this as a quasi-contractual claim to recover money as on a total failure of consideration, and not a contractual claim to restitution damages. There is, however, no strong reason for refusing to call this a contractual action, any more than there is a reason for calling an action for damages quasi-contractual." P.S. Atiyah, An Introduction to the Law of Contract 312 (3d ed. 1981).

restitution damages See DAMAGES.

restitution interest See INTEREST (2).

restitution interest A nonbreaching partys interest in preventing the breaching party from retaining a benefit received under the contract and thus being unjustly enriched. The benefit may have been received from the nonbreaching party or from a third party.

restitutionary redress Money paid to one who has been injured, the amount being the pecuniary value of the benefit to the wrongdoer. See RESTITUTION.

restitutionary redress See REDRESS.

restitutione extracti ab ecclesia (res-ta-t[y]oo-shee-oh-nee ek-strak-ti ab e-klee-z[h]ee-a). [Latin] Eccles. law. A writ restoring someone who had been suspected or accused of a felony to the church.

restitutione temporalium (res-ta-t[y]oo-shee-oh-nee tem-pa-ray-lee-am). [Latin] Eccles. law. A writ directing the sheriff to restore the temporalities of a diocese to a bishop. See TEMPORALITY (2).

restitutory interdict See INTERDICT (1).

restitutory interdict (ri-stich-a-tor-ee or res-ti-t[y] oo-ta-ree). An interdict by which a praetor directed something to be restored to someone who had been dispossessed of it. 2. A person who bas been interdicted; a natural person who, because of an infirmity, cannot make reasoned decisions about personal care or property or communicate those decisions; a person deprived of the capacity to make juridical acts. La. Civ. Code arts. 389, 390, 394.

restitutory right See RIGHT.

restitutory right A right to restitution.

restor See RESTAUR.

restorative justice An alternative delinquency sanction focused on repairing the harm done, meeting the victims needs, and holding the offender responsible tor his or her actions. Restorative-justice sanctions use a balanced approach, producing the least restrictive disposition while stressing the offenders accountability and providing relief to the victim. The offender may be ordered to make restitution, to perform community service, or to make amends in some other way that the court orders.

restorative motion See MOTION (2).

restoratory motion See restorative motion under MOTION (2).

restraining order 1. A court order prohibiting family violence; esp., an order restricting a person from harassing, threatening, and sometimes merely contacting or approaching another specified person. This type of order is issued most commonly in cases of domestic violence. A court may grant an ex parte restraining order in a family-violence case if it is necessary to (1) achieve the governments interest in protecting victims of family violence from further abuse, (2) ensure prompt action where there is an immediate threat of danger, and (3) provide governmental control by ensuring that judges grant such orders only where there is an immediate danger of such abuse. Fuentes v. Shevin, 407 U.S. 67, 92 S.Ct. 1983 (1972). Also termed protection order; protective order; stay-away order. See ex parte motion under MOTION. 2. TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER. 3. A court order entered to prevent the dissipation or loss of property.

restraining order See RESTRAINING ORDER.

restraining power A power to restrict the acts of others.

restraining power See POWER (3).

restraining statute See disabling statute under STATUTE.

restraining statute See disabling statute.

restraint 1. Confinement, abridgment, or limitation <a restraint on the freedom of speech>. See PRIOR RESTRAINT. 2. Prohibition of action; holding back <the victims family exercised no restraint - they told the suspect exactly what they thought of him>. 3. RESTRAINT OF TRADE. 4. FORFEITURE RESTRAINT.

restraint of marriage A condition (esp. in a gift or bequest) that nullifies the grant to which it applies if the grantee marries or remarries. estraints of marriage are usu. void if they are general or unlimited in scope.

restraint of princes Archaic. An embargo. The phrase still occaSionally appears in marine-insurance contexts. - Also termed restraint ofprinces and rulers; restraint ofprinces, rulers, and people. See EMBARGO.

restraint of trade 1. A limitation on business dealings or professional or gainful occupations. 2. Antitrust. An agreement between two or more businesses or a combination of businesses intended to eliminate competition, create a monopoly, artificially raise prices, or otherwise adversely affect the free market - Restraints of trade are usu. illegal, but may be declared reasonable if they are in the best interests of both the parties and the public. Often shortened to restraint. Also termed conspiracy in restraint oftrade. See PER SE RULE; RULE OF REASON.

restraint on alienation 1. A restriction, usu. in a deed of conveyance, on a grantees ability to sell or transfer real property; a provision that conveys an interest and that, even after the interest has become vested, prevents or discourages the owner from disposing ofit at all or from disposing of it in particular ways or to particular persons. Restraints on alienation are generally unenforceable as against public policy favoring the free alienability ofland. Also termed unreasonable restraint on alienation. 2. A trust provision that prohibits or penalizes alienation of the trust corpus.

restricted stock See restricted security under SECURITY.

restricted indorsement See conditional indorsement.

restricted indorsement See conditional indorsement under INDORSEMENT.

restricted interpretation See restrictive interpretation under INTERPRETATION.

restricted security A security that is not registered with the SEC and therefore may not be sold publicly unless specified conditions are met. A restricted security is usu. acquired in a non public transaction in which the buyer gives the seller a letter stating the buyers intent to hold the stock as an investment rather than resell it. Also termed restricted stock; letter security; letter stock; unregistered security.

restricted security See SECURITY.

restricted stock See restricted security under SECURITY.

restricted surplus See SURPLUS.

restricted surplus A surplus with a limited or restricted use; esp., the portion of retained earnings that cannot be distributed as dividends. The restriction is usu. due to preferred dividends in arrears, a covenant in a loan agreement, or some decision of the board of directors. See retained earnings under EARNINGS.

restricted visitation See supervised visitation under VISITATION.

restriction 1. A limitation or qualification. 2. A limitation (esp. in a deed) placed on the use or enjoyment of property. See restrictive covenant under COVENANT (4).

restriction application See divisional application.

restriction application See divisional application under PATENT APPLICATION.

restriction in lieu of arrest A restriction in which a person is ordered to stay within specific geographical limits, such as a base or a ship, and is permitted to perform full military duties. 4. Patents. A patent examiners ruling that a patent application comprises two or more patentably distinct or independent inventions; the requirement that the applicant elect one invention to continue prosecuting under the original application by abandoning some of the original claims. The applicant may defend the claims by traversing the requirement, abandon any nonelected invention, or continue prosecuting any nonelected invention under a separate divisional application. Also termed requirement for restriction; restriction requirement; division. Cf. OBJECTION (2); REJECTION (4).

restriction requirement See RESTRICTION (4).

restrictive condition See negative condition.

restrictive condition See negative condition under CONDITTON (2).

restrictive covenant 1. See noncompetition covenant under COVENANT (1). 2. See COVENANT (4).

restrictive covenant See noncompetition covenant. (For the real-property sense, see restrictive covenant under COVENANT (4).)

restrictive covenant- 1. A private agreement, usu. in a deed or lease, that restricts the use or occupancy of real property, esp. by specifying lot sizes, building lines, architectural styles, and the uses to which the property may be put. Some restrictive covenants, such as race-based restrictions on transfers, are unenforceable but do not necessarily void the deed. Also termed restrictive covenant in equity; equitable easement; equitable servitude. 2. See noncompetition covenant under COVENANT (1).

restrictive covenant in equity See restrictive covenant under COVENANT (4).

restrictive indorsement An indorsement that includes a condition (e.g., "pay Josefina Cardoza only if she has worked 8 full hours on April 13") or any other language restricting further negotiation (e.g., "for deposit only"). Also termed collection indorsement. See conditional indorsement.

restrictive indorsement See INDORSEMENT.

restrictive interpretation See INTERPRETATION.

restrictive interpretation An interpretation that is bound by a principle or principles existing outside the interpreted text. Also termed restricted interpretation; limited interpretation; interpretatio limitata. Cf. unrestrictive interpretation.

restrictive principle of sovereign immunity The doctrine by which a foreign nations immunity does not apply to claims arising from the nations private or commercial acts, but protects the nation only from claims arising from its public functions. See COMMERCIAL-ACTIVITY EXCEPTION; JURE GESTTONIS; JURE IMPERII. [T]he [Foreign Sovereignjlmmunities Act codified the so-called restrictive principle of sovereign immunity, as recognized in international law. Under this doctrine, the immunity of a foreign state in the courts of the United States is restricted to claims involving the foreign states public acts and does not extend to suits based on its commercial or private conduct." 14A Charles Alan Wright et al., Federal Practice and Procedure § 3662, at 161-62 (3d ed.1998).

restrictive title See TITLE (3).

resulting power A political power derived from the aggregate powers expressly or impliedly granted by a constitution.

resulting power See POWER (3).

resulting trust See TRUST.

resulting use See USE (4).

resume consideration See take from the table under TABLE.

resummons A second or renewed summons to a party or witness already summoned. See SUMMONS.

resumption 1. The taking back of property previously given up or lost. 2. Hist. The retaking by the Crown or other authority of lands or rights previously given to another (as because of false suggestion or other error).

resurrender The return of a copyhold estate to a mortgagor by the mortgagee after the debt has been repaid. See SURRENDER OF COPYHOLD.

retail The sale of goods or commodities to ultimate consumers, as opposed to the sale for further distribution or processing. retail, adj. Cf. WHOLESALE. retail, vb.