In English law this is known as a payment into court, largely made to minimise payments (e.g. for damages), e.g.

"Money paid into court where defendant wishes to rely on defence of tender before claim
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37.3 (1) Where a defendant wishes to rely on a defence of tender before claim (GL) he must make a payment into court of the amount he says was tendered. "

Where defence of tender is:

"A defence that, before the claimant started proceedings, the defendant unconditionally offered to the claimant the amount due or, if no specified amount is claimed, an amount sufficient to satisfy the claim."

ref.http://www.lcd.gov.uk/civil/procrules_fin/contents/parts/par...



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Note added at 2002-12-29 14:33:00 (GMT)
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The Belgian equivalent:

Een kantonnement is een bewaargeving bij een sekwester of -in casu- bij de Deposito- en Consignatiekas van een som, toereikend om tot waarborg te strekken voor de schuld in hoofdsom, intresten en kosten van de ene partij ten opzichte van de andere.

ref. http://treasury.fgov.be/interdeponl/Diversebewaar/Diversebew...