Set-Off

A counter-claim or cross-demand ; a claim or demand which the defendant in an action sets off against the claim of the plaintiff, as being his due, whereby he may extinguish the plaintiff's demand, either in whole or in part, according to the amount of the set-off.

See In re Globe Ins. Co., 2 Edw. Chi (N. Y.) 627; Sherman v. Hale, 76 Iowa, 383, 41 N. W. 48; Naylor v. Smith, 63 N. J. Law, 596, 44 Atl. 649; Hurdle v. Hanner 50 N. C. 360; Wilis v. Browning, 96 Ind. 149.

Set-off is a defense which goes not to the justice of the plaintiff's demand, but sets up a demand against the plaintiff to counterbalance his in whole or in part.

Code Ga. 1882, § 2899.

For the distinction betwcen set-off and recoupment, see Recoupment. "Set-off" differs from a "lien," inasmuch as the former belongs exclusively to the remedy, and is merely a right to insist, if the party think proper to do so, when sued by his creditor on a counter-demand, which can only be enforced through the medium of judicial proceedings; while the latter is, in effect, a substitute for a suit.

2 Op. Attys. Gen. 677.