Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/247

 RECOGNIZANCE RECORD 231 allowed a priority of payment, and bound the lands of the cognizor from the time of its en- rolment on record. It operated as a lien upon all the lands which the cognizor possessed at the time he acknowledged it, and also upon all those which he afterward acquired, so that no alienation of them made by him while his recognizance remained in force would defeat the claim of the cognizee or prevent his ex- tending such lands. Recognizances for debt may still be taken in this country under statu- tory provisions, but they operate merely as evidences of debt in the nature of a judgment, upon which execution may issue, and do not generally create a lien upon the cognizor's land or other property. There were also, at com- mon law, two other recognizances of a private sort, said to be in the nature of a statute sta- ple and a statute merchant. The undertaking of special bail in a civil action, of which the bail piece (a slip of parchment so called, on which it was transmitted to court) was a mem- orandum, was a recognizance entered into by the cognizors before the court or judge for a sum equal (or in some cases double) to that which the plaintiff had sworn to, by which they undertook that if the defendant was con- demned in the action he should pay the costs and condemnation, or render himself a pris- oner, or that they would pay it for him. In criminal practice recognizances are used both as a means of securing the proper administra- tion of justice by compelling the appearance of a party accused before a magistrate for fur- ther examination, or for trial at some superior court, and of securing the attendance of wit- nesses by binding them, with sufficient sure- ties, to appear and testify. They are used also as a means of preventing the commission of crimes, by obliging the persons suspected of an intent to commit them to recognize in some penal sum, with pledges or sureties, to keep the peace and be of good behavior for a certain time. A recognizance to keep the peace may be taken by any justice of the peace, from any one who creates an affray or disturb- ance in his presence, or goes about with unu- sual attendance or weapons to the terror of the people, or is brought before him by a con- stable for a breach of the peace ; and he is bound to grant it in favor of any person who can show just cause to believe that he is in danger of bodily harm at the hands of another. A recognizance for this purpose is an obliga- tion in the nature of a bond with one or more sureties, entered of record, with condition that if its requirements are fulfilled and the cogni- zor keeps the peace for the time therein speci- fied, it shall be void and of no effect. If on the contrary it is broken by any breach of the peace, it becomes forfeited or an absolute debt, and the cognizor and his sureties may be sued for the sums in which they are respectively bound. If it is a special recognizance, as to keep the peace toward any particular person, it may be forfeited by any actual violence, or even an assault or menace, to such person, and to such person only. If it is a general recog- nizance, it is forfeited by any act which tends to break the peace, done to any person or thing in general. A recognizance may be discharged by the death of the principal party bound thereby, or by the order of the court to which it is certified by the justice, if they see sufficient cause. If granted upon private account, it may be discharged if the person at whose request it was granted will consent to release it, or does not make his appearance to pray that it may be continued. At the common law a peer or peeress could not be bound to recognize in any other place than the court of king's bench or chancery ; but a justice of the peace had power to require sureties from any person, not a lunatic and under the degree of nobility, whether such person were a fellow justice or other magistrate or merely a private man. "Wives may demand it against their husbands, and husbands, if necessary, against their wives ; but at common law married women and in- fants should find security by their friends, be- cause they are incapable of engaging them- selves to answer any debt. Some exceptions are made by statute, and the sweeping enlarge- ment of the legal capacities of married women by the legislation of some states has probably removed this disability. In old practice the verdict of an assize, or strictly the act of the jury in inquiring into the case in order to make up their verdict, was called a recognizance. RECOLLECTS. See FRANCISCANS. RECORD (Lat. recordari, Fr. recorder, to re- member). L An official contemporaneous mem- orandum in writing, drawn up by the proper officer of a court of justice, and containing a summary statement of the proceedings in an action at law brought before that court. This statement comprises a short history of the case and the proceedings consequent thereon; as the nature of the action, the names of the par- ties and the time of their appearance in court, and the acts of the court itself during the pro- gress of the pleadings, arranged in the order of their occurrence, and sometimes connected by peculiar entries called continuances, the whole concluding with the judgment of the court with respect to the question at issue. These continuances were adjournments of the case from one day or term to another, which the law allowed for certain purposes, and which were entered with the pleadings and other proceedings on the roll or record, and gave the whole a complete and connected form. These records were always written upon rolls of parchment, which indeed was an essential characteristic of a record. In the United States paper is universally used as a substitute for parchment, and the roll form has conse- quently been abolished, but otherwise the forms of the English records have been generally adopted. Records in this technical sense are peculiar to the common law ; and as they form the only strict and proper proof of the pro-