Action in United Kingdom

Definition of Action

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Action : A proceeding in which a party pursues a legal right in a civil court.

Definition of Actio Personalis Moritur Cum Persona

Any right of action dies with the person concerned.

Declarator

Declarator, in Scots law, a form of action by which some right of property, or of servitude, or of status, or some inferior right or interest, is sought to be judicially declared. (1)

Resources

Notes and References

1. Encyclopedia Britannica (1911)

See Also

in personam; in rem.

Further Reading

Concept of Action

Traditional meaning of action [1] in scots law: The legal demand of one’s right; see 3rd Book (“Of Private Wrongs”), Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England 116; Perry Com. L. PI. 24, 38. Ancestral action: one brought tp recover land, relying on the seisin or possession of an ancestor. Civil action: one to enforce a private right. Droitural action: an action brought upon the right, to determine the title, as distinguished from possessory actions, g. t). Fictitious or feigned action: one brought to settle a point of law, there being no real controversy. Formed action: one for which a set form of words is prescribed; Actio nominata. Local action: one which must be brought in a particular place, not transitory. Mixed action: one in which both damages and the recovery of real property are sought; see 3 Bl. Cam. 117. Penal action: one brought to enforce or recover a penalty. Personal action: brought to recover money, damages, or other personal property; see Perry Com. L. PL 48. Petitory action: one determining the title; droitural. Popular action: one which may be brought by any person for breach of a penal statute. Possessory action: one brought to recover possession, without necessarily determining the right. Real action: one brought to recover real property, obsolete except in a few States; see 3rd Book (“Of Private Wrongs”), Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England 117. Rescissory action: in Scotch law, one brought to avoid a deed or other instrument. Qui tam action: a popular action, brought on behalf of the sovereign and the informer. Such statutory actions whereby part of the fine goes to the complainant are now generally considered reprehensible; see 32 Fed. R. 726; Bob. El. L. Rev. ed.; § 274. Transitory action: one which may be brought in any county, with any venire; not local; see 3rd Book (“Of Private Wrongs”), Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England 294, 384. Plea to the action of the writ: one which went to show that the plaintiff had no cause to have the writ he brought; see Plea. Action upon the case: an action so called because the plaintiff’s whole case was set forth in the writ, there being no original writ to cover his cause of action. A remedy given by the Statute of Westminster II. in cases which were similar (in consimili casu) to those covered by the original writs, and usually employed in cases where there was no actual violence or immediate injury. The actiones nominatae were those for which original writs then existed. [rtbs name=”scottish-law”]

Resources

Notes and References

1. Based on A concise law dictionary of words, phrases and maxims, “Action”, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1911, United States. This term and/or definition may be absolete. It is also called the Stimson’s Law dictionary, based on a glossary of terms, included Action.

See Also