Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/884

* BEFEBENDUM. 780 BEFOBMATION. must be submitted to the people. During the first nineteen years after its adoption by the Federal Government 20 laws out of a total of 150 were thus submitted, 14 being ratified and C re- jected. The initiative was adopted by the Fed- eral Government in 1891 as a means of in- troducing projjosals to revise the Constitution. 8ce vSwiTZERLAND, Section on Oovmiiiient. In the United States the referendum is employed in one form or another in every .State and mu- nicipality. Very early in our history it became an established principle of American law that all State Constitutions and proposed amendments should depend for their validity upon the ratifica- tion of the electorate at the polls. From this it was but a step to the position that propositions to call constitutional conventions should be made a subject for the referendum and this practice became in time well established. Not only has the referendum been employed in the United States for the adoption of organic laws, but it has been used quite as often or more often in the enactment of statutes. It was first employed to determine the question of incorporation of towns, the organization of school districts and counties, the incurring of loans, the undertaking of public improvements, etc. One of the most general uses of the referendum is the determination whether towns and cities shall permit the sale of intoxi- cating liquors. This method v/aa first employed in Rhode Island in 184.'). Another favorite sub- ject of the referendum has been the question of the location of State capitals and county-seats. The referendum has never been employed by the Federal Government for general purposes, al- though an act of Congress of 1840 jiroviding for a recession of a part of the District of Columbia to Virginia was submitted to a vote of the quali- fied voters of the district. The question early arose as to whether the use of the referendum was permissible where not expressly authorized by the State Constitution. From 1820 to 1847 the courts of various States upheld the constitutionality of legislative acts providing for the use of the referendum on the ground tluit it was not a delegation of legislative power, but simply popular cooperation. Beginning with a decision of the Delaware Supreme Court in 1847, several opinions were given against this view which had the efTect of inducing the incor- poration of provisions in the constitutions authorizing the referendum. The most valuable worlv on the referendum is that by Oberlioltzer (New York, 1900). Consult also Cleveland, The (Jroivth of Democracy m the United States (Chi- cago, 1898). EEFINING OF METALS (from Lat. re-, back again, anew -- Eng. fine, from OF. fin, probably from Lat. finitiis, finished, p.p. of finire, to bound, limit, from finin, boundary). The final purifying process in the metallurgy of certain metals such as copper, lead, tin; the object of the process is to obtain the metal in as near as possible a chemically pure form. See Coppek; Lead; Gold; Silver; Tin; Nickel; Iron. EEFLECTION (Lat. reflexio, a bending back, from rcflcctrrc, to bend back, from re-, back again, anew -- flccfere, to bend). A general phenomenon observed in the case of all kinds of wave-motion. If there are two media separated by a bounding surface, in which the trains of waves of the particular kind have different ve- locities, waves traveling in one medium and meeting this bounding surface will suffer reflec- tion — either total or partial. This is illustrated in aerial waves by the phenomenon of echoes, and in ether-waves by the common use of mirrors of various kinds. The laws of regular reflection are that the incident and reflected rays make equal angles with the line drawn perpendicular to the surface of the point of incidence, and that the two rays and this line lie in a plane. (See Light.) To reflect a train of waves the reflect- ing body must have a size larger than the wave- length of the waves ; a pile rising above the sur- face of a lake may reflect ripples, but long waves pass around it ; a pane of window-glass will re- flect aiirial waves characteristic of a shrill sound and allow others to pass; a small particle of nuitter floating in the air may reflect such short ether-waves as produce the sensation of blue light, but allow to pass those so long as to pro- duce red. If the bounding surface between the two media is rough, that is, has inequalities which are comparable with the lengths of the waves, they will be scattered by these and dif- fusely reflected, e.g. ground-glass surfaces. EEFOBMATION (hat. reformatio, from re- fonnarc, to form anew, from re-, back again, anew -- formare, to form, from forma, shape). In law, the rectification or amendment of con- tracts or other legal instruments pursuant to the judgment or decree of a court of equity. If a term is incorporated into a written instrument by mistake so that it does not represent the real intention of the parties, such intention, by reason of the parol-evidencc rule (see Evidence), can- not be shown in any proceeding at law foiuided upon the written instrument. Courts of equity, however, will give relief from the consequences of such a mistake by compelling the cancellation and surrender of the written instrument and the execution of a new instrument to conform to the actual intention of the parties when there is com])lete agreement between the parties. Jus- tice then requires that the written instrument should conform to that intention and should be reformed if it does not. But if the terms of a contract were never agreed upon, there is nothing on which to base a decree of the court directing the execution of a new contract. The ordinary rules governing equitable proceedings apply in proceedings to reform written instruments ; and the court will give such incidental relief as is necessary to carry out the main purposes of the proceeding. See Contract; Mlstake; Equity; Common Law ; Evidence, etc. ; and compare Rescission. Consult the authorities referred to under Contract; Equity; Evidence. BEFOBMATION,. The Protestant. The name applied to the great revolt in Europe in the sixteenth century against certain doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Up to that tinje Western Christendom had been a relig- ious unit, under the primacy of the Pope. The Reformation movement, therefore, inevitably af- fected the general ])olity of Western Europe and wrought an entire change in its religious and po- litical constitution. The Reformation was thus, if the strict significance of the term is adhered to, a revolution rather than a reformation, while the latter term could properly be applied to the re- sulting movement within the Roman Catholic Church, which is known as the Catholic Counter-