The Hindu Business Line : Equitable settlement means each party gets 50 per cent of publicity

EQUITABLE settlement means each party gets 50 per cent of publicity. Even as the probable Ambani settlement may add some cheer to Holi festivities and bring the much-needed certainty to the Rs 1 trillion business empire, settlement is in hot news elsewhere too. Such as IBM reaching a $400 million settlement deal with Compuware for alleged copyright violations and unfair competition, the ex-wife of President Bush's brother Neil in the thick of a defamation lawsuit settlement involving paternity issues, Israel's plan to expand West Bank settlement drawing mixed reactions, Citigroup and Putnam reaching settlements with the SEC for alleged conflicts of interest relating to the mutual fund industry, Dublin car dealer Murphy & Gunn paying more than 5.2 million euros to settle tax liabilities, Russia willing to work to promote the settlement of the problem that confronts Middle East and Iraq, and the WTO deciding to create a dispute settlement panel for tackling the ongoing row between Japan and South Korea over seaweed `nori' trade.

Settlement is the action or process of settling, and an official agreement to resolve a dispute, explains the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. Payment of a bill or claim is also settlement. Oxford Dictionary of Business defines the word as "a disposition of land — or other property made by deed, or will under which a trust is set up by the settlor." Delivery of certificates in exchange for payment after a securities trade is settlement, explains www.investorwords.com. `Settlement date' or day is when trades are cleared by delivery of the securities or forex. There is a risk that one party delivers but the counterparty is not able to pay, or the reverse; this is what is known in business circles as `settlement risk'. `Settlement fees' or closing fees are paid to "the escrow agent, who may be an attorney or a title insurance company, for carrying out the written terms of the agreement between the borrower and the seller and the lender, if there is one," according to Homeglossary.com.

`Settlement options' are "the various possibilities open to a beneficiary under a life insurance policy as to how the benefit will be paid out," and `settlement rate' is what has been suggested in Financial Accounting Standards Board 87 "for discounting the obligations of a pension plan," informs Bloomberg Financial Glossary.

The phrase `family settlement', as www.myvakil.com explains is "an arrangement between family members for sharing the family property," as in the case of the Ambanis. Such a settlement sorts out doubtful or disputed rights and helps avoid future litigation; also, "it is the best way to settle disputes of family property and ensure amity and goodwill amongst the family members."

The word settle is from Old English setlan, formed from setl `chair, bench', informs Encarta, and adds: "Ultimately from an Indo-European base meaning `to sit' that is also the ancestor of English saddle and Upanishad." And `sit' is from Old English sittan, and related to German sitzen `to sit'. Sanskrit `upanishad' is literally `a sitting down near (something)' from upa `near' + nishad `to sit down'.

In the absence of `settlement' in the Bard's works, one may settle for `settle'. While a tragic line from Romeo and Juliet is, "Her blood is settled, and her joints are stiff; life and these lips have long been separated," a challenge comes forth in Antony and Cleopatra: "If beauty, wisdom, modesty, can settle the heart of Antony, Octavia is a blessed lottery to him." In King Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey asks, "What is unsettled in the king." Prospero offers a prescription in The Tempest: "A solemn air and the best comforter to an unsettled fancy cure thy brains, now useless, boil'd within thy skull!"

In King Lear, you hear of wits beginning to unsettle; in King John, there are "all the unsettled humours of the land"; and in The Winter's Tale you find that "he something seems unsettled."

The opposite `settled' has more mentions. Such as, "love's settled passions in my heart," that King Henry VI speaks of; Timon of Athens makes a mention of, "Settlest admired reverence in a slave"; Macbeth declares, "I am settled, and bend up"; King Claudius talks of "This something-settled matter in his heart," in Hamlet; and a sonnet wonders, "When love, converted from the thing it was, shall reasons find of settled gravity." King Richard II is in no mood for peaceful settlement when stating, "There shall your swords and lances arbitrate the swelling difference of your settled hate."

1911 Online Encyclopedia traces the elements of modern settlement to Roman law. "The vulgaris, pupillaris or hxemplaris substitutie (consisting in the appointment of successive heirs in case of the death, incapacity or refusal of the heir first nominated) may have suggested the modern mode of giving enjoyment of property in succession."

It adds that the oldest form of settlement in England was perhaps "the gift in frankmarriage to the donees in frankmarriage, and the heirs between them two begotten." Talking of broken marriages, however, Lauren Bacall observes wryly: "In Hollywood, an equitable divorce settlement means each party getting fifty percent of publicity."

In Backgammon Glossary on www.bkgm.com, settlement is "a decision to end a game early with the payment of points by one player to the other based on the agreed fair value of the position." Usually, this is not allowed in tournaments. `Settlement limit' is "a method of reducing the variance of a cubeful rollout. Any trial in which the equity of a player exceeds a given value (the settlement limit) is terminated at that point and scored as double/drop."

The word also means the act of populating a place with permanent residents, or a small community, as in the Gaza Strip. In law, settlement is the resolution of a lawsuit. However, we're used to seeing settled cases upset at further levels of appeal. There are also instances where what's settled at the highest court gets unsettled by a change in the statute with retrospective effect, as happened in the recent ITC spat. Settlement can be `out-of-court' where the parties to the dispute agree to sort out things. For instance, the much-chronicled battle between Vijay Mallya, and Kishore Rajaram Chhabria for control over Herbertsons Ltd formally passed into history a few days ago when the apex court gave its nod for an out-of-court settlement between the two liquor majors.

What is a `full and final settlement'? Your personnel department knows this only too well as the last thing that happens before the link between an employee and the employer snaps. However, the phrase has relevance in insolvency too; the site www.clear-your-debt.co.uk defines it as "the process of asking creditors to let you pay a lump sum which is less than the full balance you owe on the debt." However, before accepting cheques given in `full and final settlement', read John B Molloy's caution on www.hkis.org.hk.

The falling of the foul of foreign matter of liquors to the bottom, or subsidence, is one of the meanings offered by the Webster's 1828 Dictionary. For instance, in The Winter's Tale, Leontes asks, "Dost think I am so muddy, so unsettled." Two other definitions of interest are, "The act of taking a domestic state; the act of marrying and going to housekeeping; becoming stationary, or taking permanent residence after a roving course of life." Settlement house is a centre that provides community services in an underprivileged area, according to www.dictionary.com.

"Settlement should be distinguished from subsidence," states a page on www.johnbellman.co.uk. "Settlement is downward movement of that part of a site which is loaded by the weight of the structure or other material." It takes place over a period, as in the case of roads on boggy grounds slowly sinking. "A house built on well-graded sandy material will undergo little settlement, whereas one built upon a weak clay will undergo settlement over a long period of time, perhaps twenty-odd years." If settlement is not uniform, you can see cracks. And when you see cracks, it can be very unsettling.

As for the Ambanis, here's a quote from the New Testament that may be appropriate: "Settle it therefore in your hearts."

ComingToTerms@TheHindu.co.in

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