(A) contracts, civil law. An act by which a debtor who is unable to satisfy his debts at the moment, transacts (i.e. compromises) with his creditors, and obtains from them time or delay for the payment of the sums which he owes to them. Louis. Code, 3051. 2. The respite is either voluntary or forced; it is voluntary when all the creditors consent to the proposal, which the debtor makes to pay in a limited time the whole or a part of his debt; it is forced when a part of the credi-tors refuse to accept the debtor’s proposal, and when the latter is obliged to compel them by judicial authority, to consent to what the others have deter-mined in the cases directed by law. 4. Respite also signifies a delay, forbearance or continuation of time. (B) crim. law. A suspension of a sentence, which is to be executed at a future time. It differs from a pardon, which is in abolition of the crime. See Abolition; Pardon.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
The temporary suspension of the execution of a sentence; a reprieve; a delay, forbearance, or continuation of time. 4 Bl. Comm. 394; Mishler v. Com., 62 Pa. 55, 1 Am. Rep. 377. Continuance. In English practice, a jury is said, on the record, to be “respited” till the next term. 3 BL Comm. 354. In the civil law. . A respite is an act by which a debtor, who is unable to satisfy his debts at the moment, transacts (compromises) with his creditors, and obtains” from them time or delay for the payment of the sums which he owes to them. The respite is either voluntary or forced. It is voluntary when all the creditors consent to the proposal, which the debtor makes, to pay in a limited time the whole or a part of the debt. It is forced when a part of the creditors refuse to accept the debtor’s proposal, and when the latter is obliged to compel them by judicial authority to consent to what the others have determined, in the cases directed by law. Civ. Code La. arts. 3084, 3085. Respite of appeal. Adjourning an appeal to some future time. Brown. Respite of homage. To dispense with the performance of homage by tenants who held their lands in consideration of performing homage to their lords. Cowell.