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GREAT BRITAIN
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See also:GREAT See also:BRITAIN .—The See also:English See also:law of See also:execution is very complicated, and only a statement of the See also:principal processes can here be attempted.
High See also:Court.—Fieri Facias. A See also:judgment for the recovery of See also:money or See also:costs is enforced, as a See also:rule, by See also:writ of fieri facias addressed to the See also:sheriff, and directing him to cause to be made (fieri facias) of the goods and chattels of the debtor a See also:levy of a sum sufficient to satisfy the judgment and costs, which carry See also:interest at 4% per annum. The seizure effected by the sheriff or his officer, under this writ, of the See also:property of the debtor, is what is popularly known as " the putting-in " of an execution. The seizure should be carried out with all possible despatch. The sheriff or his officer must not break open the debtor's See also:house in effecting a seizure, for " a See also:man's house is his See also:castle " (Semayne's See also:Case [1604], 5 See also:Coke See also:Rep. 91); but this principle applies only to a dwelling-house, and a See also:barn or outhouse unconnected with the dwelling-house may be broken into. The sheriff on See also:receipt of the writ endorses on it the See also:day, See also:hour, See also:month and See also:year when he received it; and the writ binds the debtor's goods as at the date of its delivery, except as regards goods sold before seizure in See also:market overt, or See also:purchased for value, without See also:notice before actual seizure (See also:Sale of Goods See also:Act 1893, s. 26, which supersedes s. 16 of the See also:Statute of Frauds and s. 1 of the See also:Mercantile Law See also:Amendment Act 1856). This rule is limited to goods, and does not apply to the money or See also:bank notes of the debtor which are not See also:bound by the writ till seized under it (See also: See also:Pickering, Oct. 14, 1907, C.A.). The See also:mere seizure of the goods, however, although, subject to such exceptions as those just stated, it binds the interest of the debtor, and gives the sheriff such an interest in the goods as will enable him to See also:sue for the recovery of their ossession, does not pass the property in the goods to the sheriff. The goods are in the custody of the law. But the property remains in the debtor who may get rid of the execution on See also:payment of the claim and fees of the sheriff [as to which see Sheriffs Act 1887, s. 20, and See also:order of 21st of See also:August 1888, See also:Annual Practice (1908), vol. ii. p. 278]. The wearing See also:apparel, bedding, tools, &c., of the debtor to the value of f5 are protected. Competing claims as to the ownership of the goods seized are brought before the courts by the See also:procedure of " See also:interpleader." After seizure, the sheriff must retain See also:possession, and, in See also:default of payment by the execution debtor, proceed to sell. Where the judgment See also:debt, including legal expenses, exceeds X20, the sale must be by public See also:auction, unless the Court otherwise orders, and must be publicly advertised. The proceeds of sale, after See also:deduction of the sheriff's fees and expenses, become the property of the execution creditor to the extent of his claim. The See also:Bankruptcy Act 1890 (53 & 54 Viet. C. 71, s. 11 [2]) requires the sheriff in case of sale under a judgment for a sum exceeding £20 to hold the proceeds for 14 days in case notice of bankruptcy proceedings should be served upon him (see BANKRUPTCY). The See also:form of the writ of fieri facias requires the sheriff to make a return to the writ. In practice this is seldom done unless the execution has been ineffective or there has been delay in the execution of the writ; but the judgment creditor may obtain an order calling on the sheriff to make a return. A sheriff or his officer, who is guilty of See also:extortion in the execution of the writ, is liable to committal for contempt, and to forfeit 1;200 and pay all See also:damages suffered by the See also:person aggrieved (Sheriffs Act 1887 [50 & 51 Vict. c. 551, s. 29 [2]), besides being civilly liable to such person. Imprisonment for debt in execution of See also:civil judgments isnow abolished except in cases of default in the nature of contempt, unsatisfied judgments for penalties, defaults by persons in a fiduciary See also:character, and defaults by judgment debtors (Debtors Act 1869 [32 & 33 Vict. c. 62]; Bankruptcy Act 1883 [46 & 47 Vict. C. 52], ss. 53, 103). Imprisonment for debt has been abolished within similar limits in See also:Scotland (Debtors [Scotland] Act 1880 [43 & 44 Viet. C. 34] and See also:Ireland, Debtors [Ireland] Act 1872, 35 & 36 Viet. c. 57). There may still be imprisonment in See also:England, under the writ—rarely used in practice—ne exeat regno, which issues to prevent a debtor from leaving the kindgom. Writ of See also:Elegit.—The writ of elegit is a See also:process enabling the creditor to satisfy his judgment debt out of the lands of the debtor. It derives its name from the See also:election of the creditor in favour of this mode of recovery. It is founded on the Statute of See also:Westminster (1285, 13 Ed. I. c. 18), under which the sheriff was required to deliver to the creditor all the chattels (except oxen and beasts of the plough) and See also:half the lands of the debtor until the debt was satisfied. By the Judgments Act 1838 the remedy was extended to all the debtor's lands, and by the Bankruptcy Act 1883 the writ no longer extends to the debtor's goods. The writ is enforceable against legal interests whether in possession or See also:remainder (See also:Hood-Barrs v. See also:Cathcart, 1895, 2 Ch. 411), but not against equitable interests in See also:land (See also:Earl of See also:Jersey v. See also:Uxbridge Rural Sanitary Authority, 1891, 3 Ch. 183). When the debtor's interest is equitable, recourse is had to equitable execution by the See also:appointment of a See also:receiver or to bankruptcy proceedings. The writ is directed to the sheriff, who, after marking on it the date of its receipt, at once in pursuance of its directions holds an inquiry with a See also:jury as to the nature and value of the interest of the debtor in the lands extended under the writ, and delivers to the creditor at a reasonable See also:price and extent in accordance with the writ, the lands of which the debtor was possessed in the bailiwick. When the sheriff has returned and filed a See also:record (in the central See also:office of the High Court) of the writ and the execution thereof, the execution creditor becomes " See also:tenant to the elegit." Where the land is See also:freehold the creditor acquires only a See also:chattel interest in it; where the land is leasehold he acquires the whole of the debtor's interest (Johns v. See also:Pink, 1900, I Ch. 296). The creditor is entitled to hold the land till his debt is satisfied, or enough to satisfy it is tendered to him, and under the Judgments Act 1864 the creditor may obtain an order for sale. Until the land is delivered on execution and the writs which have effected the delivery are registered in the Land Registry, the judgment does not create any See also:charge on the land so as to fetter the debtor's See also:power of dealing with it. Land Charges See also:Registration Acts 1888 and 1900. (See R.S.C., O. xliii.) Writs of Possession and Delivery.—Judgments for the recovery or for the delivery of the possession of land are enforceable by writ of possession. The recovery of specific chattels is obtained by writ of delivery (R.S.C., O. xlvii., xlviii.). Writ of See also:Sequestration.—Where a judgment directing the payment of money into court, or the performance by the See also:defendant of any act within a limited See also:time, has not been complied with, or where a See also:corporation has wilfully disobeyed a judgment, a writ of sequestration is issued, to not less than four sequestrators, ordering them to enter upon the real See also:estate of the party in default, and " See also:sequester" the rents and profits until the judgment has been obeyed (R.S.C., O. xliii. r. 6). Equitable Execution.—Where a judgment creditor is otherwise unable to reach the property of his debtor he may obtain equitable execution, usually by the appointment of a receiver, who collects, the rents and profits of the debtor's land for the benefit of the creditor (R.S.C., O. 1. rr. 15A-22). But receivers may be appointed of interests in See also:personal property belonging to the debtor by virtue of the Judicature Act 1873, s. 25 (8). A ttachment.—A judgment creditor may " attach " debts due by third parties to his debtor by what are known as garnishee proceedings. Stock and shares belonging to a judgment debtor may be charged by a charging order, so as, in the first instance, to prevent See also:transfer of the stock or payment of the dividends, and ultimately to enable the judgment creditor to realise his charge. A writ of See also:attachment of the person of a defaulting debtor or party may be obtained in a variety of cases akin to contempt (e.g. against a person failing to comply with an order to See also:answer interrogatories, or against a See also:solicitor not entering an See also:appearance in an See also:action, in See also:breach of his written undertaking to do so), and in the cases where imprisonment for debt is still preserved by the Debtors Act 1869 (R.S.C., O. xliv.). CONTEMPT OF COURT (q.v.) in its See also:ordinary forms is also punishable by See also:summary committal. See also:County Courts.—In the county courts the See also:chief modes of execution are " See also:warrant of execution in the nature of a writ of fieri facias ; garnishee proceedings; equitable execution; warrants of possession and delivery, corresponding to the writs of possession and delivery above mentioned; committal, where a judgment debtor has, or, since the date of the judgment has had, means to pay his debt; and attachment of the person for contempt of court. If the judgment debtor assaults the See also:bailiff or his officer or rescues the goods, he is liable to a See also:fine not exceeding £5. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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