relief

Relief

Financial assistance provided to the indigent by the government. The redress, or benefit, given by a court to an individual who brings a legal action.

The relief sought in a lawsuit might, for example, be the return of property wrongfully taken by another, compensation for an injury in the form of damages, or enforcement of a contract.

West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

relief

n. generic term for all types of benefits which an order or judgment of court can give a party to a lawsuit, including money award, injunction, return of property, property title, alimony, and dozens of other possibilities. (See: judgment)

Copyright © 1981-2005 by Gerald N. Hill and Kathleen T. Hill. All Right reserved.

relief

1 an allowance from total income for income tax purposes.

2 the obligation to redress the unjust enrichment gained by A when B pays a decree under which A was also jointly or proportionately liable. In the UK there is statutory provision for relief in very many cases.

3 the opportunity to avoid the forfeiture of a lease. Forfeiture of a lease may follow upon a breach by a tenant of a fundamental term (the procedure is contained in the Law of Property Act 1925); relief maybe available if the default is capable of being remedied and the tenant is willing to remedy it (e.g. payment of arrears of rent due). For Scotland, see IRRITANCY.

Collins Dictionary of Law © W.J. Stewart, 2006

RELIEF, Eng. 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.

RELIEF, 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.

A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856.