JEAN JACQUES ELISEE

See also:

• JEAN JACQUES ELISEE RECLUS (1830-1905)

RECLUS (1830-1905)  , French geographer, was born at Sainte-Foy la Grande (Gironde), on the 15th of March 183o . He was the second son of a Protestant pastor, who had a family of twelve children, several of whom acquired some celebrity either as men of letters, politicians or members of the learned professions . His education, begun in Rhenish Prussia, was continued in the Protestant college of Montauban, and completed at the university of Berlin, where he followed a long course of geography under Karl Ritter . Withdrawing from France in consequence of the events of December 1851, he spent the next six years (1852-57) visiting the British Isles, the United States, Central America, and Colombia . On his return to Paris he contributed to the Revue des deux mondes, the Tour du monde and other periodicals a large number of articles embodying the results of his geographical work . Among other works at this period was an excellent short book, Histoire d'un ruisseau, in which he traces the development of a great river from source to mouth . In 1867-68 he published La Terre; description des phenomenes de la vie du globe, in two volumes . During the siege of Paris, Reclus shared in the aerostatic operations conducted by M . Nadar, and also served in the National Guard, while as a member of the Association Nationale des Travailleurs he published in the Cri du Peuple a hostile manifesto against the government of Versailles in connexion with the Communist rising of the 18th of March 1871 . Continuing to serve in the National Guard, now in open revolt, he was taken prisoner on the 5th of April, and on the 16th of November sentenced to transportation for life; but, largely at the instance of influential deputations from England, the sentence was commuted in January 1872 to perpetual banishment . Thereupon, after a short visit to Italy, he settled at Clarens, in Switzerland, where he resumed his literary labours, and, after producing the Histoire d'une montagne (a companion to Histoire d'un ruisseau), wrote nearly the whole of his great work, La Nouvelle Geographic universelle, la terre et les hommes, 19 vols . (1875-94) .

This is a stupendous compilation, profusely illustrated with maps, plans, and engravings, and was crowned with the

gold medal of the Paris Geographical Society in 1892 . An English edition appeared simultaneously, also in 19 vols., the first four by E . G . Ravenstein, the rest by A . H . Keane . Extreme accuracy and brilliant exposition form the leading characteristics of all Reclus's writings, which thus possess permanent literary and scientific value . In 1882 Reclus initiated the " Anti-Marriage Movement," in accordance with which he allowed his two daughters to marry without any civil or religious sanction whatever . This step caused no little embarrassment to many of his well-wishers, and was followed by government prosecutions, instituted in the High Court of Lyons, against the anarchists, members of the International Association, of which Reclus and Prince Kropotkin were designated as the two chief organizers . The prince was arrested and condemned to five years' imprisonment, but Reclus, being resident in Switzerland, escaped . After 1892 he filled the chair of comparative geography in the university of Brussels, and contributed several important memoirs to French, German and English scientific journals . Among these may be mentioned " The Progress of Mankind " (Contemp .

Rev., 1896) ; "

Attila de Gerando " (Rev . Geograph., 1898); " A great Globe " (Geograph . Journ., 1898); " L'Extreme-Orient " (Bul . Antwerp Geo . Soc., RECOGNIZANCE-RECORD c . 42) as amended in 1867 (3o & 31 Vict . C . 35) and the forms of recognizance are scheduled to the act of 1848 . In the case of inquisitions of murder or manslaughter taken before a coroner a similar procedure is followed (Coroners Act 1887, 5o & 51 Vict. c . 71, s . 5) . The recognizances taken are returnable under penalty to the court of trial, which orders their estreat in the event of breach of the conditions .

Similar

powers as to the recognizances of persons prosecuted summarily are given by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts 1848 and 1879; and in the event of appeals to quarter sessions or by special case to the High Court from courts of summary jurisdiction, recognizances or security are required from the appellant (42 & 43 Vict . C . 49, ss . 31, 33) . On the transfer of indictments from inferior to superior courts recognizances to pay the costs on conviction are also required (Crown Office Rules, 1906) . In certain cases the police have authority to give bail to accused persons on their entering into a recognizance; and governors of prisons are allowed to release prisoners on bail on compliance with the terms on which it is allowed by the committing justices . By the Land Charges Act 190o (63 & 64 Vict . C . 26, s . 2 (I) a recognizance, whether obtained or entered into on behalf of the Crown or otherwise, does not operate as a charge on land or on any interest on land or on the unpaid purchase money for any land, unless a writ or order for the purpose of enforcing it is registered under s . 5 of the Land Charges, &c., Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c . 51) in the office of the Land Registry .

This enactment is clearly applicable to receivers' recognizances, supra; and on purchases of land

search is made for registered recognizances and an official certificate can be obtained affirming or negativing the existence of a registered entry (Conveyancing Act 1882, s . 2) . By s . 30 of the Bankruptcy Act 1883, a discharge in bankruptcy does not release the debtor from debts on a recognizance unless the Treasury certifies in writing its consent to the discharge . By ss . 32, 34 of the Forgery Act 1861, it is made felony to forge recognizances, and to acknowledge them in the name of another without lawful authority is also felony (24 & 25 Vict . C . 98) . In Scotland the place of recognizances is filled by cautions; a caution in " law-burrows " corresponds very nearly to a recognizance to keep the peace . In the United States recognizances are used for much the same. purposes as in England . (W . F .