Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
ATTACHMENT
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: ARN-AUD
del.icio.us it!
|
ATTACHMENT ,' in See also:law, a See also:process from a See also:court of See also:record, awarded by the justices at their discretion, on a See also:bare See also:suggestion, or on their own knowledge, and properly grantable in cases of contempt. It differs from See also:arrest (q.v.), in that he who arrests a See also:man carries him to a See also:person of higher See also:power to be forthwith disposed of; but he that attaches keeps the party attached, and presents him in court at the See also:day assigned, as appears by the words of the See also:writ. Another difference is, that arrest is only upon the See also:body of a man, whereas an attachment is often upon his goods. It is distinguished from See also:distress in not extending to lands, as the latter does; nor does a distress See also:touch the body, as an attachment does. Every court of record has power to See also:fine and imprison for contempt of its authority. Attachment being merely a process to bring the See also:defendant before the court, is not necessary in cases of contempt in the presence of the court itself. Attachment will be granted in See also:England against peers and members of See also:parliament only for such See also:gross contempts as rescues, disobedience to the See also:sovereign's writs and the like. Attachment will not See also:lie against a See also:corporation. The See also:county courts in this respect are regulated by acts of 1846 and 1849. They can only punish for contempts committed in presence of the court (see CONTEMPT OF COURT). Attachments are granted on a See also:rule in the first instance to show cause, which must be personally served before it can be made See also:absolute, except for non-See also:payment of See also:costs on a See also:master's See also:allocatur, and against a See also:sheriff for not obeying a rule to return a writ or to bring in the body. The offender is then arrested, and when committed will be compelled to See also:answer interrogatories, exhibited against him by the party at whose instance the proceedings have been had; and the examination when taken is referred to the master, who reports thereon, and on the contempt being reported, the court gives See also:judgment according to its discretion, in the same manner as upon a conviction for a See also:misdemeanour at See also:common law. See also:Sir W. See also:Blackstone observes that " this method of making the defendant answer upon See also:oath to a criminal See also:charge is not agreeable to the See also:genius of the common law in any other instance "; and the See also:elasticity of the legal See also:definitions of contempt of court, especially with respect to comments on judicial proceedings, is the subject of much complaint. Attachment of Debts.—It was suggested by the common law commissioners in 1853 that a remedy analogous to that of See also:Foreign Attachment (see below) might be made available to creditors, after judgment, against debts due to their debtors. Accordingly, the Common Law See also:Procedure See also:Act 1854 enacted that any creditor, having obtained judgment in the See also:superior courts, should have an See also:order that the judgment debtor might be examined as to any debts due and owing to him before a master of the court. The rules and regulations under the Judicature Act 1873 retained the process for attachment of debts as established by the Procedure Act of 1854. On See also:affidavit that the judgment was still unsatisfied, and that any other person within the See also:jurisdiction was indebted to the judgment debtor, the See also:judge was empowered to attach all debts due from such third person (called the garnishee) to the judgment debtor, to answer the judgment See also:debt. This order binds the debts in the hands of the garnishee, and if he does not dispute his liability See also:execution issues against him at once. If he disputes his liability the question must be tried. Payment by the garnishee or execution ' " To attach " is first used in See also:English in the legal sense of arrest or seizure, and the sense of " fasten to " is comparatively See also:late. The Old See also:French atachier, See also:modern attacker, from which the English " attach " is derived, is from a word for a peg or See also:nail, in English " tack," which is found in many forms in Scandinavian and See also:Celtic See also:languages, and is ultimately connected with the See also:root seen in Latin tangere, to touch. The See also:Italian attacare, especially in the phrase attacare See also:battaglia, to join See also:battle, gave the French attaquer, whence the English attack," which is therefore by origin a doublet of " attach."against him is a See also:complete See also:discharge as against the judgment debtor. These provisions were, by an order in See also:council of the 18th of See also:November 1867, extended to the county courts. By the See also:Wages Attachment Abolition Act 187o it is enacted that no order for the attachment of the wages of any servant, labourer or workman shall be made by the judge of any court of record or inferior court, and by the See also:Merchant See also:Shipping Act 1894 it is enacted that the wages of a See also:seaman or apprentice are not subject to attachment. In the See also:United States attachment of debts is a statutory remedy accorded in most of the states in certain circumstances for the See also:security of creditors, by the seizure by the sheriff of the debtor's goods or the See also:imposition of a See also:lien upon his See also:land, before judgment, and sometimes at the very commencement of the See also:action. In some states it is only allowed in See also:special cases, as when the debtor has absconded, or is a non-See also:resident or guilty of See also:fraud; in a few it may be had, as of right, at the commencement of See also:ordinary actions. The common-law courts of the United States (by act of See also:Congress) follow the practice in this regard of the See also:state in which they sit. Such attachments (on See also:mesne process) can generally be dissolved by the substitution of a See also:bond with See also:surety. The body can also be attached in most states on See also:civil actions of See also:tort (for a wrongful or negligent act to the damage of another), but not in actions on See also:contract. Foreign Attachment is an important See also:custom prevailing in the See also:city of See also:London, whereby a creditor may attach See also:money owing to his debtor, or See also:property belonging to him in the See also:possession of third parties. The person holding the property or owing the money must be within the city at the See also:time of being served with the process, but all persons are entitled to the benefit of the custom. The See also:plaintiff having commenced his action, and made a satisfactory affidavit of his debt, is entitled to issue attachment, which thereupon affects all the money or property of the defendant in the hands of the third party, the garnishee. The garnishee, of course, has as against the attachment all the defences which would be available to him against the defendant, his alleged creditor. The garnishee may plead payment under the attachment, if there has been no fraud or See also:collusion, in See also:bar to an action by the defendant for his debt or property. The court to which this process belongs is the See also:mayor's court of London, the procedure in which is regulated by the Mayor's Court of London Procedure Act 1857. This custom, and all proceedings See also:relating thereto, are expressly exempted from the operation of the Debtor's Act 1869. Similar customs exist in See also:Bristol and a few other towns in England and also in See also:Scotland. A Writ of Attachment enforces answers and obedience to decrees and orders of the High Court of See also:Justice, and is made out without order upon an affidavit of the due service of the process, &c., with whose requirements compliance is sought. A corporation, however, is proceeded against by distringas and not by attachment. It was formerly competent to the plaintiff to compel the See also:appearance of a defendant in See also:chancery by attachment, but the usual course was to enter appearance for him in See also:case of See also:default. It is one of the modes of execution allowed for the recovery of property other than land or money. Attachment of the See also:Forest was the proceeding in the courts of attachments, Woodmote, or See also:Forty Days' courts. These courts have fallen into desuetude. They were held before the verderers of the royal forests in different parts of the See also:kingdom once in every forty days, for the purpose of inquiring into all offences against " vert (greensward) and See also:venison." The attachment was by the bodies of the offenders, if taken in the very act of killing venison, or stealing See also:wood, or preparing so to do, or by fresh and immediate pursuit after the act was done; else they must be attached by their goods. These attachments were received by the verderers and enrolled, and certified under their See also:seals to the Swainmote, or Court of Justice-seat, which was the superior of the forest courts. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] ATTACAPA (Choctaw for " cannibal ") |
[next] ATTAINDER (from the O. Fr. ataindre, ateindre, to a... |