The temporary suspension of the execution of a sentence; a reprieve; a delay, forbearance , or continuation of time. 4 Rl. Comm. 394; Mishler v. Com., 02 Pa. 55, 1 Am. Rep. 377. Continuance . In English practice, a jury is said, on the record , to be “respited” until the next term. 3 Rl. 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 it 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, 30S5.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
