Literary notes about rescind (AI summary)
The term rescind is commonly employed in literature to denote the formal cancellation or withdrawal of an earlier decision, order, or legal act. In narratives and legal discourses alike, it is used to indicate a deliberate act of annulment, as when a resolution or contract is actively undone to restore a previous state or to reflect a change in intention. For instance, it appears in a genteel appeal in Middlemarch where a character wishes to undo a prior resolution about a horse ([1]), and it is similarly found in discussions about governmental or legislative actions, such as the abandonment of adopted reports or contracts ([2], [3]). Its application in writing often underscores a decisive turning point, conveying both the finality and authority behind the act of nullification, while even hinting at its original sense of “cutting off” that earlier binding gesture ([4]).
- "Let me hope that you will rescind that resolution about the horse, Miss Brooke," said the persevering admirer.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot - The subject was still open to discussion, but there was little probability that the House would rescind their adoption of the report.
— from Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 1 (of 16) by United States. Congress - To rescind a contract, a party must return what he has received thereunder, called putting the other party in statu quo .
— from Cyclopedia of Commerce, Accountancy, Business Administration, v. 03 (of 10) by American School of Correspondence - The original signification of the word rescind is “to cut off.”
— from Life of James Buchanan, Fifteenth President of the United States. v. 1 (of 2) by George Ticknor Curtis
