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 knight’s fee became fixed at oue hundred shillings. 2 Bl. Comm. 65. 2. “Relief” also means deliverance from oppression , wrong, or injustice. Iu this seuse it is used as a general designation of the assistance, redress, or beuefit which a complainant seeks at the hands of a court, particularly iu equity. It may be thus used of such remedies as specific performance , or the reformation or rescission of a contract; but it does 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, is also called “relief.”
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
