(A) Engl. law. A relief was an incident to every feudal tenure, by way of fine or composition with the lord for taking up the estate which was lapsed or fallen in by the death of the last tenant. At one time the amount was arbitrary; but afterwards the relief of a knight’s fee became fixed at one hundred shillings. 2 Bl. Com. 65. (B) practice. That assistance which a court of chancery will lend to a party to annul a contract tinctured with fraud, or where there has been a mistake or accident; courts of equity grant relief to all parties in cases where they have rights, ex aequo et bono, and modify and fashion that relief according to circumstances.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
1. In feudal law. A sum payable by the new tenant the duty being incident to every feudal tenure, by way of line or composition with the lord for taking up the estate which was lapsed or fallen in by the death of the last tenant At one time the amount was arbitrary, but afterwards the relief of a knights fee became fixed at one hundred shillings. 2 Bl. Comm. 65. “2.’-Relief” also means deliverance from oppression, wrong, or injustice! In this sense it is used as a general designation of the assistance, redress, or benefit which a complainant seeks at the hands of a court particularly in equity. It may be thus used of such remedies as specific performance, or the reformation or rescission of a contract; but it doea not seem appropriate to the awarding of money damages”. “3. The assistance or support pecuniary or otherwise, granted to indigent persons by the proper administrators of the poor-laws, ia also called “relief.”