Rescripts

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Official documents issued to amend or clarify an earlier legal directive or legislative act
2. Written communications that provide corrections or updates to prior government or institutional decisions
3. Formal notifications that serve to alter or refine existing policies or regulations in official capacities

Etymology: "Rescripts" is the plural of "rescript," which comes from Latin "rescriptum," meaning "written reply." The Latin noun is the neuter past participle of "rescribere," to write back, built from "re-" (back, again) and "scribere" (to write). A rescript was thus originally a written answer, the kind of reply a sender received after posing a question. The sense of an official reply became specialized in Roman law. Emperors and officials answered petitions and legal queries in writing, and these answers carried legal force for similar cases. That is why the modern meaning centers on documents that amend or clarify an earlier legal directive: the reply itself acts as authoritative guidance. The word kept its connection to the act of writing back, now applied to the authority that a formal reply could carry.

Synonyms: revisions, amendments, edits, updates, modifications