compensation

& a. [Fr. compensation; Sp. com pens a cion; Port. compensação; Ital. com pens azione, from Lat.compensatio.] A. As substantive : I. Ordinary Language: †1. The act of rendering an equivalent for. 2. That which constitutes an equivalent for something else. (1) Lit .: That which is given or received as an equivalent for services rendered, lo es sustained, sufferings endured, or in payment of a debt; amends, remuneration, payment, recompense. lo es."Macaulay His compensation for their recent lo es. partly (2) Fig .: That which balances or is an equivalent for something else, or makes good a deficiency. II. Law : 1. Gen.: The same as A. Ι. (1). 2. Spec .: A stoppage or set-off. When one is sued for a debt, it is competent for him, partially or wholly, to bar the claim, by alleging that he is the plaintiff's creditor for services rendered or money lent. If the sum claimed from the plaintiff is found to be the exact equivalent of that for which he sues, the two are held to compensate or balance each other; if, on the contrary, it be le , it diminishes by so much the prosecutor's claim. If, how ever, the defendant feel that he owes the plaintiff more than that individual is indebted to him, he is required at the outset to pay into court the smaller ( Black stone : Comment . , bk. iii., ch. xx.) sum for which he admits himself to be responsible. Crabb thus distinguishes between compensa tion, satisfaction, amends, remuneration , recom pense , requital , and reward : "The first three of these terms are employed to expre a return for some evil; remuneration , recompense , and requital , a return for some good; reward , a return for either good or evil. A compensation is something real; it is made for some positive injury sustained; justice requires that it should be equal in value, if not like in kind, to that which is lost or injured: a satisfaction may be imaginary, both as to the injury and the return; it is given for personal injuries, and depends on the disposition of the person to be satisfied : amends is real, but not always made for injuries done to others, as for offenses committed by ourselves. Sufferers ought to have a compensation for the injuries they have sustained through our means, bunjuries are injuries, particularly those which wound the feelings, for which there can be no compensation : tenacious and quarrelsome people demand satis faction ; their offended pride is not satisfied without the humiliation of their adversary: an amends is honorable which serves to repair a fault; the best amends which an offending person can make is to acknowledge his error, and avoid a repetition Compensation is made for bodily labor and menial offices; remuneration for mental exertions, for literary, civil, or political offices. is voluntary, both as to the service and to the re competence