Rescue
| v. t. | 1. | To free or deliver from any confinement, violence, danger, or evil; to liberate from actual restraint; to remove or withdraw from a state of exposure to evil; | |||
| n. | 1. | The act of rescuing; deliverance from restraint, violence, or danger; liberation. | |||
| 2. | (Law) The forcible retaking, or taking away, against law, of things lawfully distrained. The rescue of a prisoner from the court is punished with perpetual imprisonment and forfeiture of goods.
| ||||
| Noun | 1. |  rescue - recovery or preservation from loss or danger; "work is the deliverance of mankind"; "a surgeon's job is the saving of lives" |
| Verb | 1. | rescue - free from harm or evil Synonyms: deliver |
| 2. | rescue - take forcibly from legal custody; "rescue prisoners" |
RESCUE, crim. law. A forcible setting at liberty against law of a person
duly arrested. Co. Litt. 160; 1 Chitty's Cr, Law, *62; 1 Russ. on Cr. 383.
The person who rescues the prisoner is called the rescuer.
2. If the rescued prisoner were arrested for felony, then the rescuer
is a felon; if for treason, a traitor; and if for a trespass, he is liable
to a fine as if he had committed the original offence. Hawk. B. 5, c. 21. If
the principal be acquitted, the rescuer may nevertheless be fined for the
misdemeanor in the obstruction and contempt of public justice. 1 Hale, 598.
3. In order to render the rescuer criminal, it is necessary he should
have knowledge that the person whom he sets at liberty has been apprehended
for a criminal offence, if he is in the custody of a private person; but if
he be under the care of a public officer, then he is to take notice of it at
his peril. 1 Hale, 606.
4. In another sense, rescue is the taking away and setting at liberty,
against law, a distress taken for rent, or services, or damage feasant. Bac.
Ab. Rescue, A.
5. For the law of the United States on this subject, vide Ing. Dig.
150. Vide, generally, 19 Vin. Ab. 94.
RESCUE, mar. war. The retaking by a party captured of a prize made by the
enemy. There is still another kind of rescue which partake's of the nature
of a recapture; it occurs when the weaker party before he is overpowered,
obtains relief from the arrival of fresh succors, and is thus preserved from
the force of the enemy. 1 Rob. Rep. 224; 1 Rob. Rep. 271.
2. Rescue differs from recapture. (q.v.) The rescuers do not by the
rescue become owners of the property, as if it had been a new prize -- but
the property is restored to the original owners by the right of
postliminium. (q.v.)