KECOUPMENT. 763 BECTOB. upon contract for the purchase price of goods, tlic defeniiant may recoup damages which he has suUVrcd because of the plaintitf's breacli of a col- lateral warranty of the quality of the goods; or in an action by a common carrier to recover freight money, the defendant may recoup for loss or injury to the goods resulting from a vio- lation of the plaintift's oliligation as a common carrier. In an action upon contract damages recouped may be for tort, or vice versa provided the recoupment grows out of the transaction sued uiion. Recoupment differs from 'set-ofV and counterclaim. Recoupment is a common-law doctrine and has become established in the several States of the United States by judicial decision. The exact limits of the application of the doctrine vary considerably in the different States, and a dis- cussion of the rules of the diti'erent States would involve the consideration of technical details not within the scope of this article. In many States, particularly those having codes of civil procedure, there are statutory forms of counter- claim which include both recoupment and set-off. See Set-Off; Counterclaim. EECOVEBT. See Common Eecovehy. EECREATION PIERS. In several American cities, wliarves reserved for the use of the public and designed to supplement the park system of the city as breathing places for the inhabitants of the congested districts. Those in New Yor!< City may he taken as typical. In 1892 the Legislature provided that certain docks in the city of New York be set aside as 'recreation' piers and that these be covered with permanent structures, the upper story to be whollj- free to the public, while the lower decks were to be devoted to the exigen- cies of trade. The first pier was completed in I8!)G, and in 1003 there were seven such in Greater New York, situated as follows: East Third Street, East Twentv-fourth Street. East 112th Street, Christopher Street, West Fiftieth Street, and West 129th Street, in the Borough of Manhattan, and North Second Street in Brooklyn. Fireproof pavilions of steel have been erected on all of these piers, which vary in length from 200 feet to 722 feet (at East third Street). Seats are provided for the use espe- cially of mothers and children, and in the even- ings there is music, and frequently dancing. The attendance at the East Third Street pi<'r during the first year was estimated as ranging from 500 to 2000 in the afternoon, and from' 3000 to 7000 in the evening. The piers are naturally open only during warm weather, but at East Tliird and East Twenty-fourth streets there are glass in- closuves so that these may be utilized for winter- garden ])urpose3, BECEUITING OFFICEE, The. A comedy by George Farquhar, produced in 170G. The military scenes are sketches from life, drawn from Farquhar's experience in the army. The title-character is Sergeant Kite. BECEUITMENT (Fr. recrutement. from OF. rrcniltr. Port, recruiar. rcclutar, from ML, re- clutare, to recruit, patch, mend, from Lat. re-, back again, anew 4- AS. cU'it. from Welsh clwt, It.. Gael, clud, Manx clonkl. clout, patch), Miu- T.RT. The raising of men for military service. Recruitment of armies in general is I>y volun- tary enlistment (the method adopted by the United States and Great Britain) or by con- VOL. XVI.— 49. scription, or compulsory enlistment (the system in use on the Continent of Europe) . The recruit- ing .system of Germany is the model for nations adopting compulsory .service. The country is divided geographically into as man}' corps dis- tricts as there are army corps (the latter are more or less permanently located), and these are subdivided into division, brigade, regimental, bat- talion, and company districts. Each company is recruited in its own geographical district. Each brigade district has also from two to six Land- u-chr (the reserve of the active army on the war footing) districts, which are the units of recruit- ment for this body. The recruits are e.xamined by a commission of civil and military officers. Those physically, mentally, or morally unfit are rejected ; the rest draw lots, the lower numbers being taken to fill the annual contingent, the higher passing to the Ersatz Reserve (a reserve of recruitment). Ordinarily the young men are not called out till they are twenty years of age nor after they are forty. Between seventeen and twenty and over forty they belong to the Lundslurm, the last reserve of the Empire. After completing his term of service in the ranks the soldier passes into the reserve of the active army, retaining his place in his regiment, borne on its books, and liable to recall till about twenty-six years old; he then passes to the Landu-ehr bat- talion of the district; the Linuhcehr command keeping the register of names and addresses. The special method of recruitment for an army in the field, now adopted by all nations, whatever the general system of recruitment niaj' be, is by so-called depot battalions, etc., which remain in the home country and receive and train all the re- cruits for a particular regiment, etc. The meth- ods for recruitment used in the United States will be found discussed under Enli.stment, where information as to the qualifications of re- cruits is given. The accompanying illustration shows a circular used in the American Revolution to obtain recruits. See Armies; Army Organ- ization; etc. BECTANGLE (OF., Fr, rectangle, from Lat. rcctiaii(]idu»i. right-angled triangle, from reetus, right, straight -p anfiuhis. angle), A parallelo- gram having four right angles. See Parallelo- gram ; Mensuu.vtion, BECTIFYING. See Distilled Liquobs. BECTOB (Lat., ruler, director). An ecclesi- astical and academic title, meaning in the former sense a clergyman who has the charge of a parish and full possession of all the consequent rights and privileges. In the Church of England a rec- tor diflers from a vicar in that the latter is en- titled only to a certain portion of the ecclesi- astical income specially set apart to the vicarage. The office of rector as developed in England was carried over to the American colonies, where, however, a unique develoi)ment came about. Un- der the American civil church law (q.v.) the parishes of the Protestant Episcopal Church, like the religious societies of other denomina- tions, received civil incorporation, and the Ameri- can rector, instead of continuing to be regarded, like the English, as a corporation sole, became ex officio the president of a corporation consti- tuted of the rector, wardens, and vestrymen. To the rector belongs the possession and use of the temporalities of the parish, but only for the ser- vice of the church. In the Roman Catholic
