RECOMPENSE OP RECOVERY IN VALUE. This phrase, is applied1 to the matter recovered in a common recovery, after the vouchee has disappeared, and judgment2 is given for the demandant. 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 2093.
RECONCILIATION3, contracts. The act of bringing persons to agree together, who before, had had some difference.
2. A renewal4 of cohabitation between hushand and wife is proof of reconcil-iation, and such reconciliation destroys the effect of a deed of separation. 4 Eccl. R. 238.
RECONDUCTION, civ. law. A renewing of a former lease; relocation. (q. v.) Dig. 19, 2, 13, 11; Code Nap. art. 1737-1740.
RECONVENTION, civ. law. An action brought by a party who is defendant5 against the plaintiff before the same judge. Reconventio est petitio qua reus vicissim, quid ab actore petit, ex eadem, vel diversa causa. Voet, in tit. de Judiciis, n. 78; 4 N. S. 439. To entitle the defendant to institute a demand in reconvention, it is requisite6 that such demand, though different from the main action, be nevertheless necessarily connected with it and incidental to the same. Code of Pr. Lo. art. 375; 11 Lo. R. 309; 7 N. S. 282; 8 N. S. 516.
2. The reconvention of the civil law was a species of cross-bill. Story, Eq. Pl. §402. See Conventio; Bill in chancery. Vide Demand in reconvention.
RECORD, evidence. A written memorial made by a public officer authorized7 by law to perform that function, and intended to serve as evidence of something written, said, or done. 6 Call, 78; 1 Dana, 595.
2. Records may be divided into those which relate to the proceedings8 of congress and the state legislatures - the courts of common law - the courts of chancery - and those which are made so by statutory provisions.
3. - 1. Legislative9 acts. The acts of congress and of the several legislatures are the highest kind of records. The printed journals of congress have been so considered. 1 Whart. Dig. tit. Evidence, pl. 112 and see Dougl. 593; Cowp. 17.
4. - 2. The proceedings of the courts of common law are records. But every minute made by a clerk of a court for his own future guidance in making up his record, is not a record. 4 Wash. C. C. Rep. 698.
5. - 3. Proceedings in courts of chancery are said not to be, strictly10 speaking, records; but they are so considered. Gresley on Ev. 101.
6. - 4. The legislatures of the several states have made the enrollment11 of certain deeds and other documents necessary in order to perpetuate12 the memory of the facts they contain, and declared that the copies thus made should have the effect of records.
7. By the constitution of the United States, art. 4. s. 1, it is declared that "full faith and credit shll be given, in each state, to the public acts, records and judicial13 proceedings of every other state; and the congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof." In pursuance of this power, congress have passed several acts directing the manner of authenticating14 public records, which will be found under the article Authentication15.
8. Numerous decisions have been made under these acts, some of which are here referred to. 7 Cranch, 471; 3 Wheat. 234; 4 Cowen, 292; 1 N. H. Rep. 242; 1 Ohio Reports, 264; 2 Verm. R. 263; 5 John. R. 37; 4 Conn. R. 380; 9 Mass 462; 10 Serg. & Rawle, 240; 1 Hall's N. York Rep. 155; 4 Dall. 412; 5 Serg. & Rawle, 523; 1 Pet. S. C. Rep. 352. Vide, generally, 18 Vin. Ab. 17; 1 Phil. Ev. 288; Bac. Ab. Amendment16, &c., H; 1 Kent, Com. 260; Archb. Civ. Pl. 395; Gresley on Ev. 99; Stark17. Ev. Index, h. t.; Dane's Ab. Index, h. t.; Co. Litt. 260; 10 Pick. R. 72; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.