Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/288

 272 RENWICK bushels of wheat, 6,537 of Indian corn, 27,659 of oats, 9,731 tons of hay, 1,735 Ibs. of wool, and 40,185 of butter. There were 993 milch cows, 1,759 other cattle, 833 sheep, and 285 swine. Capital, Beaver Falls. II. A N. W. county of Dakota, bordering on British Amer- ica, recently formed, and not included in the census of 1870; area, about 1,800 sq. m. The S. W. part is occupied by the Plateau du Co- teau du Missouri ; the rest is watered by Mouse river. The surface is generally undulating, and the county is well adapted for grazing. REWICK. I. James, an American physicist, born in New York in 1792, died there, Jan. 12, 1863. He graduated at Columbia college in 1809, was professor of chemistry and phys- ics there from 1820 to 1854, and in 1838 was appointed one of the commissioners to ex- plore the N. E. boundary between the United States and New Brunswick. He was the au- thor of " Outlines of Natural Philosophy " (2 vols. 8vo, Now York, 1822-'3), the earliest ex- tended work on that subject published in the United States; "Treatise on the Steam En- gine " (8vo, 1830), translated into several lan- guages ; " Elements of Mechanics " (8vo, Phila- delphia, 1832) ; and " Applications of the Sci- ence of Mechanics to Practical Purposes " (12mo, New York, 1840). He privately print- ed for the use of his classes " First Principles of Chemistry " and " Outlines of Geology " (1838), the latter preceding by several years any other school treatise on the subject. II. James, an American architect, son of the pre- ceding, born in Nev York in 1819. lie gradu- ated at Columbia college in 1830, was an en- gineer on the Erie railway and the Croton aque- duct for about five years, and superintended the construction of the distributing reservoir. At the age of 23 he won in competition the commission for the building of Grace church, in Broadway, and has since built the new St. Patrick's cathedral in New York, Calvary church, the second Presbyterian church, the Smithsonian institution in Washington, vari- ous hospitals on Blackwell's, Ward's, and Ran- dall's islands, and Vassar college. REPLEVIN (law Lat. re, back, and plegium, pledge), a redelivery of a thing to the owner, upon pledges or security ; the taking from some holder property which the taker claims, he giving back pledges to establish his right, or, if he fails in this, to return the property. The institution of this very important action is as- cribed to Glanvil, chief justice to Henry II. ; and it was originally the peculiar and exclusive remedy in cases of wrongful distress. The ob- ject was to prevent the beasts of the plough, cattle, and other goods of the tenant in arrear from being unjustly or excessively distrained by the landlord, lest, as Littleton 'observes, " the husbandry of the realm and men's other trades might thereby be overthrown or hin- dered." At the common law a distress (which implies both the thing taken and the manner of taking it) was considered merely as a pledge REPLEVIN i or security for the rent, for damage feasant, or for service due from the tenant to his supe- rior lord, and a means of enforcing its pay- ment or performance. It could not be sold or disposed of by the distrainor, but he was com- pelled to hold it as a pledge until payment or other satisfaction was made. For this reason beasts of the plough and the tools of a man's trade could not be distrained, lest by depri- ving him of these he should also be deprived of the ability to redeem them ; but the statute 2 William and Mary, 1, c. 5, authorized the dis- trainor, with the assistance of the sheriff, to have the distress appraised by competent ap- praisers, and sold for the highest price which it would bring, unless regularly replevied by the tenant or owner within five days after seizure. There were two ways in which a distress could bo replevied, one according to the common law, and the other by a statute. The common law allowed the owner a writ de replegiuri facias, which was sued out of the court of chancery and directed to the sheriff of the county in which the distress was taken, commanding him to redeliver it to the owner upon receiving sufficient sureties therefor, and afterward to determine the ownership and do justice as to the matter in dispute between the parties, in his county court. The statute of Marlbridge, on the other hand (52 Henry III., c. 21), provided that, without suing out a writ, the sheriff or any of his deputies (of whom four were appointed in each county for the express purpose of making replevins) should, immediately upon complaint being made to him, proceed to replevy the goods. The owner was then obliged to give satisfac- tory security to two ends : first, plegios de prosegttendo, or pledges to prosecute his suit to final judgment ; and second, jtlegios de re- torno habendo, or pledges to return the distress again to the distrainor, if the right should be determined against him. These pledges were discretionary, and the sheriff was responsible for their sufficiency ; and in addition to them the statute required a bond with two sureties for double the value of the goods taken, also conditioned to prosecute the suit and return the goods. This bond was to be assigned to the avowant or person making cognizance, on request to the officer, and if forfeited it could be sued by the assignee. If the sheriff neg- lected to take a bond, or if he accepted in- sufficient pledges, the party might have an ac- tion against him and recover double the value of the goods distrained, but no more. The owner of goods distrained might replevy them although his grant by deed contained a special condition that the distress should be irreple- visable, and that the landlord should keep it as a gage or pledge until the rent were paid ; because it was held to be incompatible with the nature of a distress that it should be irre- plevisable. The sheriff, on receiving the re- quired security, was at once to cause the dis-' tress to be returned to the party from whom