REVERSAL. In International Law-.
A declaration by which a sovereign promises that he will observe a certain order, or cer tain conditions, which have been once esta blished, notwithstanding any changes that may happen to cause a deviation therefrom: as, for exaniple, when the French court con sented for the first time, in 1745, to grant to Elizabeth, the czarina of Russia, the title of empress, it exacted as a reversal a declare, tion purporting that the assumption of the title of an imperial government by Russia should not derogate from the rank which Franco had held towards her.
Letters by which a sovereign declares that by a particular act of his he does not mean to prejudice a third power. Of this we have an example in history: formerly the emperor of Germany, whose coronation according to the golden ball, ought to have 'been solemnized at Aix-la-Chapelle, gave to that city, when he was crowned elsewhere, reversals, by which he declared that such coronation took place without prejudice to its rights, and without drawing any consequences therefrom for the future.
In Practice. The decision of a superior court by which the judgment, sentence, or decree of the inferior court is annulled.
After a judgment, sentence, or decree has been rendered by the court below, a writ of error may be issued from the superior to the inferior tribunal, when the record and all proceedings are sent to the supreme court on the return to the writ of error. When, on the examination of the record, the superior court gives a judgment different from the in ferior court, they are said to reverse the pro ceeding. As to the effect of a reversal, see 9 Carr. & P. 513.