PETITION. A petition is an application in writing, addressed to the lord chancellor, in winch the petitioner states certain facts as the ground on which he prays for the order and direction of the court. Petitions are either cause petitions or not.. A cause petition is a peti tion in a matter of which the court has already possession by virtue of there being a suit concerning the matter of the petition ; and the petitioner is generally either a party to such suit, or he derives a title to some interest in the aubjectenetter of the suit from a party to it. When there is no suit existing about the matter of the petition, it is called an ex parse petition.
Some cause petitions are called petitions of course, and relate to matters in the ordinary prosecution of a suit, and before a decree. Such petitions are granted upon application of the party petitioning; and they may be presented at any time, whether the courts are sitting or not.
Other petitions in a cause, which are not petitions of course, and may be called special petitions, have for their object to carry a decree into execution. Thus a party who has an interest in a fund in court, a legatee for instance who was a minor when the decree was made, may, when he is of age, apply by petition to have his share paid to him, because his right to it has been recognised by a decree or order of the court, or by a master's report which has been confirmed. The nature of the petitions in a cause will of course vary with the subject matter of the suit.
Petitions, not in a cause, are of various kinds, and many of them are presented under the authority of particular acts of parliament. These also are called special petitions. Thus a petition may be presented for the appointment of guardians to infants, and for an allowance for their maintenance; for the purpose of procuring an order of court that infant trustees and mortgagees may execute conveyances ; and for various other purposes. In matters of lunacy, the form of proceeding in the first instance is by petition, the prayer being for a commission to inquire into the state of mind of the alleged lunatic. [Lexace.] In subsequent proceedings relating to the property of a person, when found lunatic by a jury, a petition is the regular and usual course of proceeding; and suits are not commenced or defended for the lunatic without the previous approval and direction of the court.
All special petitions must be presented to the court to which they are addressed, in order to be answered : until they are answered, the court is not fully possessed of the matter of the petition. The answer, which is written on the copy of the petition and signed by the judge, requires the attendance before him of all parties concerned in the matter of the petition at the hearing thereof. It is the business of the petitioning party to serve all proper parties with notice of this petition, and the answer to the petition becomes an order of the court, upon every person whom the petitioner chooses to serve with the petition, to attend at the hearing of it ; and if such person be absent at the hearing, he will be bound by the order made on the petition. Service of the petition consists in delivering a true copy of the petition as answered to the clerk in court whose attendance the petitioner thinks necessary, or to the party himsel£ In some special cases, the peti tioner is permitted, on special motion, supported by an affidavit that he is unable to serve the party personally, to leave the copy of the petition at the party's house with one of his family, and this will be considered good service. Special petitions frequently require to bo supported by affidavits of the petitioner or some other person, or of both ; and such /Mayas may be filed at any time after the petition is answered. If a petitioner choose to serve a party with a petition, whose presence is considered by the court to be unnecessary, he must pay such party the cost of attending at the hearing of the petition.
A petition is heard in court by the counsel for the petitioner stating the substance and prayer of the petition, and by reading or briefly stating the contents of the affidavits filed in support of the petition, if any have been filed. If the prayer of the petition is opposed by any of the parties who have been served with it, they are heard by their counsel, and their affidavits also, if any have been filed, are read or briefly stated to the court. On hearing the matter of the petition and the affidavits on both sides, the court either dismisses the petition or makes such order as it thinks fit. The order when made is drawn up, passed, entered, served, and enforced like any other decree or order of the court.