Relief

1.

In feudal law. A sum payable by the new tenant, the duty being incident in 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. Comm. 65.

2. "Relief" also means deliverance from oppression, wrong, or injustice. In this sense it is used as a general designation of the assistance, redress, or benefit which a complainant seeks at the hands of a court, particularly in 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."