Page:Halsbury Laws of England v1 1907.pdf/224

 Part VII. FORMS OF ACTION— continued.
 * Sect. 2.Abolition of Old Forms of Action - 45
 * Sect. 3. Modern Actions - 47
 * Sub-sect. 1. Actions in rem and in personam - 47
 * Sub-sect. 2. Actions of Contract and of Tort - 48
 * Sub-sect. 3. Actions Transitory or Local - 50

Part VIII. MAINTENANCE AND CHAMPERTY - 51


 * For Abatement of Actions - see title Practice and Procedure.
 * Accord and Satisfaction - " Contract.
 * Actions by and against Personal Representatives - " Executors and Administrators.
 * Equitable Remedies - " Equity.
 * Information - " Criminal Law and Procedure; Crown Practice.
 * Joinder of Causes of Action - " Practice and Procedure.
 * Jurisdiction - " Admiralty; Courts; Practice and Procedure.
 * Limitation of Actions - " Limitation of Actions.
 * Petition of Right - " Crown Practice.
 * Practice and Procedure - " Practice and Procedure.
 * Revival of Action - " Practice and Procedure. :Various matters in respect of which an action may be maintained - See particular titles passim.

Part I. Definitions.

Sect. 1. Action.

"Action."

1. An "action," according to the legal meaning of the term, is a proceeding by which one party seeks in a Court of justice to enforce some right against, or to restrain the commission of some wrong, by another party. More concisely it may be said to be "the legal demand of a right," or " the mode of pursuing a right to judgment " (a). It implies the existence of parties, of an alleged right, of an alleged infringement thereof (either actual or threatened), and of a Court having power to enforce such a right.

In its wider meaning the term includes both civil and criminal proceedings ; it was frequently so used by old writers (b), and in a modern case (c) the House of Lords recognised that it is "a generic term, inclusive, in its proper legal sense, of suits by the Crown,"


 * (a) "Action nest autre chose que loyall demand de son droit" (Horne's Mirroir des Justices (1642), cap. 2, s. 1). "Actio nihil aliud est quam jus prosequendi in juditio quod alicui debetur" (Co. Litt. 284 b, 285 a, quoting Bracton, iii. fol. 98). See also Altham's Case (1610), 8 Co. Rep. 150 b; Bradlaugh v. Clarke (1881), 7 Q. B. D. 38.
 * (b) Co. Litt. 284 b, 285 a; Com. Dig. Action, D; Bac. Abr. Actions in General, A.
 * (c) Clarke v. Bradlaugh (1881), 7 Q. B. D. 38, per Lush, L.J.; sub nom. Bradlaugh v. Clarke (1883), 8 App. Cas. 354, per Lords Selborne, L.C, and Blackburn.