RES 
2 
upon the performance whereof all the promises of endless 
bliss are made over, it is not possible to rescind or disclaim 
the standing obliged by it. Hammond. 
RESCISSION, s. [rescission , Fr. rescissus, Lat.] 
The act of cutting off; abrogation.—If any infer rescission 
of their estate to have been for idolatry, that the govern¬ 
ments of all idolatrous nations should be also dissolved, it 
followeth not. Bacon. 
RESCI'SSORY, adj. [rescissoire , Fr. rescissus, Lat.] 
Having the power to cut off, or abrogate.—Primerose pro¬ 
posed, but half in jest as he assured me, that the better and 
shorter way would be to pass a general act rescissory (as 
it was called) annulling all the parliaments that had been 
held since the year 1633. Burnet. 
RESCOBIE, a parish of Scotland, in Forfarshire, of an 
irregular figure, comprehending about 16 or 18 square miles. 
Population 920. 
RESCOUS, or Rescussus, in law, an illegal taking 
away, and setting at liberty, a distress taken, or a person 
arrested, by process, or course of law. This is properly a 
rescous in fact. If one distrain beasts for damage feasant in 
his ground, and as he drives them along the highway towards 
the pound, they enter into the owner’s house, and he with¬ 
holds them there, and will not deliver them upon demand ; 
this detainer is a rescous in law. For a rescous or the taking 
of goods by force, when, in a distress, they are in the cus¬ 
tody of the law, which is considered as an atrocious injury, 
the distreiner has a remedy in damages, either by writ of 
rescous (F. N. B. 101.), in case they were going to the pound, 
or by writ de parco fracto, or pound-breach (ibid. 100.) in 
case they were actually impounded. He may also at his 
option bring an action on the case for this injury, and shall 
therein, if the distress were taken for rent, recover treble 
damages. (Stat. 2 W. & M. sess. 1. c. 5.) In case of the 
forcible delivery of a person arrested from the officer who is 
taking him to prison, the plaintiff has a similar remedy by 
action on the case, or of rescous (6 Mod. 201.) j or, if the 
sheriff makes a return to such rescous to the court out of 
which the process issued, the rescuer will be punished by 
attachment. Cro. Jac. 419. Salk. 586. See Rescue. 
He that commits a rescue or rescous, is called the rescussor. 
Rescous is also used for a writ which lies for this fact, 
called breve de rescussu. 
To RESCIII'BE, ». a. [ rescribo, Lat. rescrire, Fr.] To 
write back.—Whenever a prince on his being consulted res¬ 
cribes or w’rites back Toleramus, he dispenses with that act 
otherwise unlawful. Ayliffe. —To write over again.—Call¬ 
ing for more paper to rescribe them, he shewed him the dif¬ 
ference betwixt the ink-box and the sand-box. Howelt. 
RE'SCRIPT, s. [rescrit, Fr. rcscriptum, Lat.] Edict of 
an emperor.—The popes, in such cases, where canons were 
silent, did, after the manner of the Roman emperors, write 
back their determinations, which were stiled rescripts or de¬ 
cretal epistles, having the force of law's. Ayliffe. 
When the rescript was made in answer to the inquiry of 
a community, it was called a pragmatic sanction. 
The papal rescripts are a kind of bulls or monitories, be¬ 
ginning with these words, “ Significant nobis dilectus 
filius,” &c. They never obtained either in England or France, 
when contrary to the liberties of the English and Gallican 
churches; but were declared abusive. 
Among the Romans the contending parties and even the 
magistrates themselves, frequently consulted the emperor 
on the measures they were to take in certain and nice difficult 
cases; and the answers returned by the emperor on such 
consultations, were called rescripts. These had not, indeed, 
the full force of laws; but they were deemed a strong preju¬ 
dice or presumption : and in succeeding ages, they had the 
force of perpetual laws, though they ought to be carefully 
distinguished, by every rational civilian, from those general 
constitutions which had only the nature of things for their 
guides. 
Justinian has inserted a great number of them in the 
Code; and by that means given them the authority they 
before wanted. 
RES 
The author of the life of the emperor Macrinus observes 
of that prince, that he would have his officers judge by laws, 
not by rescripts; as esteeming it absurd to admit the wills of 
ignorant men, such as Commodus and Caracalla, for rules 
of judging; and because Trajan never gave any rescripts at 
all, as being loth to countenance a custom, where what is 
frequently granted as a favour, in particular cases, might be 
afterwards pleaded as a precedent It is added, that Macri¬ 
nus had a design to strip the rescripts of all their authority. 
M. Schulting, in his Dissertations, does not at all approve 
of this design ; and, to the emperor’s reasons, answers, that 
indeed all rescripts are not to be admitted ; that those v’hich 
appear dictated out of favour, are to be thrown aside; but 
those which appear founded in reason, and natural equity, 
are, with Justinian, to be allowed. He adds, that it cannot 
be denied but the worst emperors have frequently made 
good laws, and useful rescripts. 
As to what is urged of the emperor Trajan’s never giving 
any rescripts, it appears but ill supported. For what is it 
but a rescript that he delivers to Pliny on the subject of the 
Christians, lib. x. epist. 28 ? Or that on the Isclastici, 
lib. x. epist. 120 ? The Digest, and Pliny’s Epistles, need 
only to be opened and compared, to find rescripts of Trajan. 
The rescripts of the emperor, his grants and decrees, his 
edicts and pragmatic sanctions, were subscribed in purple 
ink, or a compound of vermilion and cinnabar; and trans¬ 
mitted to the provinces as general or special laws, which the 
magistrates were bound to execute, and the people to obey. 
But as their number continually multiplied, the rule of obe¬ 
dience became each day more doubtful and obscure, till the 
will of the sovereign was fixed and ascertained in the Gre¬ 
gorian, Hermogenian, and the Theodosian codes. 
RE'SCUABLE, adj. \rescuable, Fr.] That may be res¬ 
cued. Sherwood. —Every thing under force is rescuable by 
my function. Gay ton. 
To RE'SCUE, v. a. [rescuo, low Lat. rescourrer, old 
Fr.] To set free from any violence, confinement, or danger. 
—Sir Scudamore, after long . sorrow, in the end met with 
Britomartis, who succoured him and reskewed his love. 
Spenser. 
We’re beset with thieves; 
Rescue thy mistress, if thou be a man. Shakspeare. 
RE'SCUE, s. [rescous , old Fr. rescussus, low Lat.] 
Deliverance from violence, danger, or confinement. 
How comes it, you 
Have holp to make this rescue ? Shakspeare. 
RE'SCUER, s. One that rescues.—They all took part 
with their rescuer, or restitutor, Quixote; and so pelted 
the guard, that they had very hard pay for their convoy. 
Gay ton. 
RESEA'RCH, s. {recherche, Fr.] Enquiry; search.— 
By a skilful application of those notices, may be gained in 
such researches the accelerating and bettering of fruits, 
emptying mines, and draining fens. Glanville. 
To RESEA'RCH, v. a. [ rechercher, Fr.] To examine ; 
to enquire.—It is not easy to research with due distinction, 
in the actions of eminent personages, both how' much may 
have been blemished by the envy of others, and what was 
corrupted by their own felicity. I Votton. 
RESEA'RCHER, s. One wffio makes examination or en¬ 
quiry. 
To RESEA'T, v. a. To seat again. 
When he’s produc’d, will you reseat him 
Upon his father’s throne ? Dryden. 
RESEDA, (so named by Pliny), in botany, a genus of 
the class dodecandria, order trigynia, natural order miscel- 
laneae. Capparides, (Juss.) —Generic Character. Calyx: peri¬ 
anth inferior, of one leaf, deeply divided into narrow, erect, 
permanent segments, two of which are further asunder than 
the rest, for the accommodation of the honey-bearing petal. 
Corolla: petals several, unequal; some of them always cut 
half way down into three segments ; the upper one gibbous 
at the base, bearing honey, the length of the calyx. Nee- 
tary. 
