Rescript
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A rescript is a public government document. More formally, it refers to such a document issued not on the initiative of the author, but in response to a question (usually legal) posed to the author. The word originates from replies issued by Roman emperors to such questions and is also used in modern legal terminology and the Papal curia.[1]
Rescripts may take various forms, from a formal document of an established type, such as a
Etymology
The word rescript derives from the Latin noun rescriptum[2] which itself derives from the Latin verb rescribo, meaning "to write back or... reply in writing". It developed its specialised legal meaning due to regular responses by emperors or lawyers to petitions or legal questions.[3]
By analogy the term rescript is also applied to similar procedures in other contexts, such as the
Roman law
While the most common author of a rescript was nominally the emperor, the term referred generally to replies written by various officials from the local or provincial level to bishops in the religious hierarchy.
These rescripts, as written answers from the imperial chancery, came to have legislative effect and took on two general forms: letters (
Modern law
France
In
Papacy
Papal rescripts concern the granting of favours or the administration of justice under
United States
The Massachusetts appellate courts issue rescripts to the lower courts. These are the equivalent of mandates (i.e. writs of mandamus) in federal appellate practice.[8]
See also
- Imperial Rescript on Education
- Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors
- Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War
- Declaratory Rescript of the Illyrian Nation
References
- ISBN 978-0-19-957112-3.
- ^ Hoad 1996, "rescript".
- ^ Lewis & Short 1879, "rescribo".
- ^ a b Connolly 2018, "rescripts".
- ^ a b Honoré 2012.
- ^ a b Nicholas 2012.
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ Mass. R. App. P. 1(c)
Bibliography
- Connolly, Serena (2018). "rescripts". Oxford dictionary of late antiquity. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8.
- Hoad, T F, ed. (1996). Concise Oxford dictionary of English etymology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-283098-2.
- Hornblower, Simon; et al., eds. (2012). The Oxford classical dictionary (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. OCLC 959667246.
- Honoré, Tony. "magister libellorum". In
- Nicholas, Barry. "constitutions". In
- Lewis, Charlton T; Short, Charles, eds. (1879). "rescribo". A Latin dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
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