Respondentia
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
In maritime law
A loan of money, on maritime interest, on goods laden on board of a ship, upon the condition that, if the goods be wholly lost in the course of the voyage, by any of the perils enumerated in the contract, the lender shall lose his money; if not, that the borrower shall pay him the sum borrowed, with the interest agreed upon. The contract is called "respondentia" because the money is lent mainly^ or most frequently, on the personal responsibility of the borrower. It differs principally from bottomry (q. V.) in the following circumstances: Bottomry is a loan on the ship; respondentia is a loan upon the goods. The money is to be repaid to the lender, with maritime interest, upon the arrival of the ship in the one case, and of the goods in the other. In most other respects, the contracts are nearly the same, and are governed by the same principles. In the former, the ship and tackle, being hypothecated, are liable, as Well as the borrower; in the latter, the lender has, in general, it is said, only the personal security of the borrower. Marsh. Ins. bk.
2, c. 1, p. 734.
The general term, including both respondentia and bottomry, is "hypothecation" (q. v.)