REPLICATION*. 



REPUBLIC. 



plea in bar t.> inch avowry or cognizance ; the defendant'* amwer to 

 plea <>r lr it called a replication. 



Win-re there ii judgment fur the defendant, or the plaintiff i* non- 

 auitcd, the judgment direct* that the defendant shall have the good* 

 restored to him without being again nubject to being replevin!, v. !.. li 

 U called a rettirn irrepleviaable. 



If ii|u a replevin, ur upon a writ of retoroo habendo after judg- 

 ment, the iheriff return* that the cattle, Ac., are driven away (eloigned, 

 eloiigata) a writ may i*ue commanding the sheriff to make reprisal* by 

 taking the cattle, Ac., of the dutrainor, and to detain tin m until he in 

 ably to replevy the cattle, Ac., of the distrainee. Thi* process, whii-h 

 U now nearly obsolete, wa* called a capias in withernam, or a capias 

 by way of counter-tailing, from vither (against ; in Ueruian, vidrr) and 

 um, a taking or distress. A special action of trespass also lie* for 

 removing a ilutrea* *o that it cannot be replevied. This latter offence 

 was formerly called a * vee," or " votituin luiiiinin." by which term is 

 to be understood, not, a* might be supposed, a forbiddn distress, but 

 a diatren forbidden or refused to be replevied." (> ' lust.', 140.) 



If after good* have been replevied, and before the nut has been 

 deckled, the defendant make* another distress for the same cause, such 

 second diatren is called a recaption, and the course is to sue out a 

 special writ for the restoration of the good* and for the punishment of 

 the recaptur ; since, whether Uie first taking was right or wrong, the 

 defendant is not justified in thus anticipating the judgment of the 

 court. It U not material whether the second taking be of the same 

 goods or of other goods, pi ,>i ided they belong to the same party, and 

 are taken for the same caun ; but if the landlord distrain the goods of 

 A , who replevies, and afterwards, finding the good* of B upon the land, 

 he distrains them for the same rent, no writ of recaption lies. 1} can 

 only rcplevy or bring an action of trespass or trover. 



At common law, if the plaintiff was nonsuited, although the defen- 

 dant became entitled to a return of the goods, yet the judgment was 

 not that the return should be irreplevUable, as in a judgment upon a 

 verdict where the right had been tried. The plaintiff might have again 

 sued out a replevin, and so after several successive nonsuits. To put 

 an end to this vexatious proceeding, the statute of Westm. II. c. 2, 

 gave the plaintiff a writ of second deliverance instead of a new replevin, 

 in which, if the plaintiff in any manner fail in his suit, the del- 

 will have judgment for a return irreplevisaWe. In other respects the 

 proceedings in the action of second deliverance are similar to those in 

 the action of replevin. 



UKl'l.tC'ATlON. [ I', i AMX.:.] 



Kl'.l'Oin'S (in Iiw) are relations of the proceedings of courts of 

 justice. They usually contain a statement of the pleading*, the facts, 

 the arguments of counsel, and the judgment of the court ; the object 

 being to establish the law, and prevent conflicting decisions, by pre- 

 serving and publishing the judgment of the court, and the grounds 

 upon which it decided the question of law arising in the case. 



The earliest reports extant ore the ' Year Books.' It in said that 

 some few exist in .MS. of the reign of I-Mwnrd I. and a few broken 

 note* are to he found in Kit/.herbert's abridgment. A series of these 

 commences, and are now printed, fr.>m the reign of Edward II. 

 They were published annually, which explains their name, from the 

 notes of .persons, four in number, according to Lord Coke, who were 

 ]>aid a stipend by the crown for the purpose of committing to writing 

 the proceedings of the courts. These early accounts of coses ai 

 khoit, abrupt, and often confused, especially from the circumstance 

 1 1, r. it is frequently difficult to ascertain whether a judge or a counsel 

 is peaking. 



The Year-books continue, with occasional interruptions in their 

 down to the reign of llriiry VIII. The omission during the 

 I h:i.i lieni attempted to bo supplied by Bellewe, who 

 led and arranged the ca-ws of that period which had I teen pre- 

 l>y other writers. The Year-books are wholly written in Nor- 

 'i ench, although by the :'.<', Kdw. III., stat. 1, c. 15, it was enacted 

 that all pleadings should be in the English language, and the entries 

 on the rolls in Latin. This dialect continued indeed to be used as late 

 as the 18th century ; the last which appeared were those of Levinr, 

 and Lutwyche; the former in 1702, the latter in 1701. The Year- 

 book* of later date have more continuity of style and fulness of 

 discussion ; canes are cited, and the decision of the court i* given at 

 greater length, with more solemnity and clearness. About the end of 

 !! of Henry VII it is probable that the nti|>eiid was withdrawn. 

 Only five Year-books exist for the ensuing reign, and none were 

 puhliMhed after it. Their place was shortly afterwards supplied by 

 rrjmr compiled by private individual*, but subject for some time 

 of the judges, whose testimony to the fitness of the 

 prefixed to the Report*. This however soon became a mere 

 form, a* appears by the statement of Lord-Keeper North, who speak* 

 slightingly of the Report* in his time as compared with his favourite 



ji <>f Henry VIII. and his three successors, Dyer, 



afterward* chief- justice of the Common Pleas, took note* a* a reporter. 



Benloe and 1 >alu n were a!*> i, jurter* in Uicse reigns. In the time of 



.vyer reported the proceedings of the 



court*, and, from the ability with which they acquitted themselves, 

 .1 1'l.-.l to the previously unsettled state^of the law, the Report* of about 

 this period have acquired very great authority. Anderson, Moore, 



' Leonard, Owen, Coke, and Croke. all lived about this time. But the 

 first printed accounts of cases published by a private hand are those of 

 Kdniund I'low.len, the first part of which appeared in the year 1571, 

 under the title of ' Commentaries.' A few years afterward* the exe- 

 cutor* of 1'yer pul>li-hed the notes of their testator under the express 

 name of ' Reports,' being the first published under that title. These 

 llowed, in 1601 and 1602, by those of Sir Edward Coke, whieh, 

 from their excellence, have ever been dignified by the name of ' The 

 Report*.' During this time reporter* did not, as they have done in 

 more modern times, confine themselves to one court. In the same 

 volume are found reports of case* in chancery, in the three superior 

 court*, the court of wards, &c. During Uie reign of James I., Lord 

 Bacon and Sir Julius Caesar suggested to the king the appointment of 

 two officer* for the purpose of taking note* and minutes of proceedings 

 in the court*. .lames acceded to the suggestion, and a copy of bin 

 ordinance for their appointment, at a salary of 100/. each, is extant. 

 (Rymer's ' Foedera,' 15 Jac. I., 1617.) The ordinance doe* not, however, 

 appear to have been acted upon, and Reports continued to be compiled 

 ami published by private hands only. 



The English language was first used by reporters about the t 

 Elizabeth. Lord Coke employed it in his ' Commentary upon Little- 

 ton.' In his preface he state* why he thought it convenient to do so ; 

 and odds that his conduct was not without precedent. From the 

 period of Kli/alicth down to the present, Reports have been published 

 of the ] ui all the courts. Coke, in his day, thought the 



following distich applicable . 



" Qurcritur ut crracunt tot raagna volumina legi* ; 

 In promptn causa eat, crescit in orbe dolus." 



This is curious as evidencing the number and fecundity of reporters 

 at that time. North also complains of the great number of Reports. 



(Coke's Hi /Mi-It, ' part 3; Dugdale's Oriyinn Jurijicala ; 



Reeves'* Ifittory of the Emjlinlt Lav.) 



! : F. I I : KS i : STATION. [DKSCEST.] 



REPRIEVE (from the French re/iri*, withdrawn), in criminal law, 

 means the withdrawal of a prisoner from the execution and pro.' 

 of the law for a certain time. Kvery court which has power to award 

 execution, has also power, either before or after judgment, to grant a 

 reprieve. The consequence of a reprieve is, that the delivery or the 

 execution of the sentence of the court is suspended. A reprieve may 

 proceed from the mere pleasure of the crown expressed to the court, 

 or from the discretion of the court itself. The justices of jail delivery 

 it her grant or take off a reprieve, although their session be 

 finished, and their commission expired. A reprieve proceeding from 

 the discretion of the court is usually granted when, from any circum- 

 stance, doubt exists as to the propriety of carrying a sentence into 

 execution. This doubt may be created either from the unsatisfactory 

 character of the verdict, the suspicious nature of the evidence, the 

 insufficiency of the indictment, &c., or from the appearance of circum- 

 stances favourable to the prisoner. When a reprieve has been granted 

 with a view to recommend to mercy a prisoner capitally condemned, a 

 memorial to that effect is forwarded to the secretary of state, who 

 recommends the prisoner to the mercy of the crown. Where it 

 ha* been gsnntcd by reason of some doubt* in point of law as to the 

 propriety of the conviction, the execution of the sentence is suspended 

 until the opinion of the judges has been taken upon it. The sentence 

 is then executed or commuted in accordance with their opinion. 



There are two coses in which a reprieve is necessarily granted. One 

 is where a woman who has been capitally convicted pleads her preg- 

 nancy in delay of execution. Where such a plea is made, the judge 

 must direct a jury of matrons to inquire of the fact ; and if they find 

 that she is quick with child, the execution is delayed, either till after 

 her delivery, or proof by lapse of time that she was not pregnant. The 

 other is where a prisoner appears to have become insane between 

 judgment and the award of execution. In such case a jury must be 

 sworn to inquire whether he really is insane. If they find that he U, 

 a reprieve must be granted. 



If the reprieve is sent by the secretary of state, it is under the sign 

 manual of the sovereign. 



REPUBLIC is derived immediately from the French riptu 

 and ultimately from the Latin ret publica. The Latin expression ret 

 puklica is defined, by Focciolati, to be " res commnnis et publica 

 civium una viventium," and corresponds very closely with the English 

 word eowunitintrnllh, a* used in its largest acceptation for a political 

 society. The Lathi word rapnUica might be applied to a community 

 under a monarchical government ; thus Augustus is said in a passage 

 of Capito, a Roman lawyer, to have governed the ret publira (Gcllius, 

 xiii. 12) ; the word, however, was more applicable to a society having a 

 popular government than to a society having a monarchical govern- 

 ment; thus Cicero denies that the name of res publica can be pro- 

 perly given to a community which is grievously oppressed by the 

 rule of a single man : " Ergo illam rem populi. id est rein publicam, 

 quis diceret turn, quum crudelitate unius oppress! esscnt universi ; 

 neque esset unum vinculum juris, nee consensus ac societas coetns, 

 quod est populus " (' l>e Hep.,' iii. 31). 



A republic, according to the modern usage of the word, signifies a 

 political community which is not under monarchical government, or, 

 in other words, a political community in which one person does not 



