1. Confirmation that an act done by another person was authorized. See RATIFICATION. [Cases: Principal and Agent 170(2).C.J.S. Agency § 88.]
2. The formal admission that a person, entity, or thing has a particular status; esp. a nation’s act in formally acknowledging the existence of another nation or national government.
3. Parliamentary law. The chair’s acknowledgment that a member is entitled to the floor (the chair recognizes the delegate from Minnesota). See PRECEDENCE(4).
“When any member desires to speak or deliver any matter to the house, that person should rise and respectfully address the presiding officer. When the presiding officer recognizes the member by calling the member by name or by indicating recognition, that person is entitled to the floor and may address the body or present a matter of business, but may not yield the floor to any other member.” National Conference of State Legislatures, Mason’s Manual of Legislative Procedure § 91, at 76–77 (2000).
4. Tax. The act or an instance of accounting for a taxpayer’s realized gain or loss for the purpose of income-tax reporting. Cf. NONRECOGNITION PROVISION; REALIZATION(2). [Cases: Internal Revenue 3115, 3178; Taxation 996. C.J.S. Internal Revenue §§ 61, 110; Taxation §§ 1732–1733.]
5. An employer’s acknowledgment that a union has the right to act as a bargaining agent for employees. [Cases: Labor Relations 191. C.J.S. Labor Relations § 162.]
6. Int’l law. Official action by a country acknowledging, expressly or by implication, de jure or de facto, the existence of a government or a country, or a situation such as a change of territorial sovereignty. Cf. NONRECOGNITION. [Cases: International Law
4. C.J.S. International Law §§ 9–11.]
7. RULE OF RECOGNITION. — recognize, vb.
