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Etymology

The word rescript derives from the Latin noun rescriptum² 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 Ottoman, Chinese and Japanese imperial courts, or even prior to the Roman empire. Two well-known examples of Japanese Imperial rescripts were Emperor Hirohito's 1945 Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War written in response to the Potsdam Declaration and his 1946 Humanity Declaration written in response to a request by General Douglas MacArthur.

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.⁴ During the high Roman Empire the emperor had an officer, the magister libellorum, to deal with petitions (Latin: libelli) from citizens and draft replies. Those replies, originally written at the bottom of the petition, are thought to have been written largely by the magister libellorum and only issued in the emperor's name.⁵ Due to the legal nature of many of those petitions and since the emperor served as a final court of appeal, the office was regularly held by jurists. Among these were Papinianus or Ulpian.⁶

These rescripts, as written answers from the imperial chancery, came to have legislative effect and took on two general forms: letters (Latin: epistulae) and subscriptions (a response validated by the emperor's written signature underneath; Latin: subscriptiones).⁷ Some important early legal collections were composed largely of rescripts, for instance the Codices Gregorianus and Hermogenianus.⁸ Many imperial rescripts are preserved in the Justinian's Codex which restated the body of Roman law.⁹

Modern law

France

In France, people have the possibility to ask an administration for a rescrit (rescript), which means that they will present to the competent administration a circumstanced particular case, and obtain a formal answer (the rescrit) by the administration explaining how the law will be applied to the submitted particular case. The rescript is binding for the administration, and may be used before a court of law to exonerate the person who asked for the rescript in case of prosecution. In English common law such a hypothetical process is not allowed, and cases must be determined on fact.

Japan

Japanese Emperors have issued Rescripts, including the Hirohito surrender broadcast and the Humanity Declaration.

Papacy

Main article: Papal rescripts

See also: Canon law (Catholic Church)

Papal rescripts concern the granting of favours or the administration of justice under canon law. In Roman Catholicism rescripts are responses in writing by the pope or a Congregation of the Roman Curia to queries or petitions of individuals.¹⁰

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.¹¹

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

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. ISBN 978-0-19-954556-8. OCLC 959667246.
  • Honoré, Tony. "magister libellorum". In OCD4(2012). doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.3867
  • Nicholas, Barry. "constitutions". In OCD4(2012). doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.1796
• Lewis, Charlton T; Short, Charles, eds. (1879). "rescribo". A Latin dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

References

1. Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010). "rescript". Oxford dictionary of English (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-957112-3. 978-0-19-957112-3 ↩

2. Hoad 1996, "rescript". - Hoad, T F, ed. (1996). Concise Oxford dictionary of English etymology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-283098-2. ↩

3. Lewis & Short 1879, "rescribo". - Lewis, Charlton T; Short, Charles, eds. (1879). "rescribo". A Latin dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3Drescribo ↩

4. Connolly 2018, "rescripts". - Connolly, Serena (2018). "rescripts". Oxford dictionary of late antiquity. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8. ↩

5. Connolly 2018, "rescripts". - Connolly, Serena (2018). "rescripts". Oxford dictionary of late antiquity. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8. ↩

6. Honoré 2012. ↩

7. Nicholas 2012. ↩

8. Honoré 2012. ↩

9. Nicholas 2012. ↩

10. Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Papal Rescripts" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Papal_Rescripts ↩

11. Mass. R. App. P. 1(c) ↩