ACTION (Lat. agere, to do ; to lead ; to conduct). A doing of something ; something done.
In Practice. The formal demand of one's right from another person or party, made and insisted on in a court of justice. In a quite common sense, action includes all the forma_ proceedings in a court of justice attendant upon the demand of a right made by one per son or party of another in such court, includ ing an adjudication upon the right and its enforcement or denial by the court.
In the Institutes of Justinian an action is defined as jua peraequendi in judicio quod aibi debetur (the right of pursuing in a judicial tribunal what is due oneself ). Inst. 4. 6. In the Digest, however, where the signification of the word is expressly treated of, it is said, AeGio generaliter aumiter ; vel pro ipao jure quod qui* habet peraequendi in judieio quod auum eat eibi ve debetur ; vel pro has ipaa peraecu hone aeu juria exercitio (Action in general is taken either as that right which each one has of pursu ing in a judicial tribunal his own or what is dne him ; or for the pursuit itself or exercise of the right). Dig. 50. 16. 16. Action was also said eon Liners formam agendi (to include the form of pro ceeding). Dig. 1. 2. 10.
2. This definition of action has been adopted by Mr. Taylor. (Civ. Law, p. 50.) These forms were prescribed by the praztors originally, and were to be very strictly followed. The actions to which they applied were said to be atrial juria, and the slightest variation from the form prescribed was fatal. They were first reduced to a system by Ap plius Claudius, and were surreptitiously publishod by his clerk, Cneius Flavius. The 'publication was so pleasing to the people that Flavius was made a tribune of the people, a senator, and a curule edile (a somewhat more magnificent return than is apt to await the labors of the editor of a modern book of forms). Dig. 1. 2. 5.
These forms were very minute, and included the form for pronouncing the decision.
In modern law the signification of the right of pursuing, Sto. has been generally dropped, though it is recognized by Bracton, 98 b ; Coke, 2d Inst, 40; and Blackstone, 3 Comm. 116 ; while the two latter senses of the exercise of the right and the means or method of its exercise are still found.
3. The vital idea of an action is, a proceeding on the part of one person as actor against another, for the infringement of some right of the first, before a court of justice, in the manner prescribed by the eourt or the law.
Subordinate to this is now connected in a quite common use, the idea of the answer of the defendant or person prooeeded against; the adducing evi dence by each party to sustain his position; the adjudication of the court upon the right of the plaintiff; and the means taken to enforce the right or recompense the wrong done, in case the right is established and shown to have been injuriously af fected.
4. Actions are to be distinguished from those proceedings, such as writ of error, ecire faciae, mandamus, and the like, where, under the form of proceedings, the court and not the plaintiff appears to he the actor. 6 Binn. Penn. 9. And it is not regularly applied, it would seem, to proceedings in a oourt of equity.
In the Civil Law.
Civil Actions.—Those personal actions which are instituted to compel payments or do some other thing purely civil. Pothier, Introd. Gen. aux Coutumes, 110.
Criminal Actions.—Those personal actions in which the plaintiff asks reparation for the commission of some tort or injury which he or those who belong to him have sustained.
Mixed Actions are those which partake of the nature of both real and personal actions ; as, actions of partition, actions to recover pro perty and damages. Just. Inst. 4, 6, 18-20 ; Domat, Supp. des Lois Civiles, Liv. 4, tit. 1, n. 4.
Mixed Personal Actions are those which partake of both a civil and a criminal cha racter.
Personal Actions are those in which one person (actor) sues another as defendant (reus) in respect of some obligation which he is under to the actor, either ex contractu or ex delicto, to perform some act or make some compensation.
Real Actions.—Those by which a person seeks to recover his property which is in the possession of another.
In the Common Law.
5. The action properly is said to terminate at judgment. Coke, Litt. 289 a; Rolle, Abr. 291 ; 3 Sharswood, Blackst. Comm. 116 ; 3 Bouvier, Inst. n. 2639.
Civil Actions.—Those actions which have for their object the recovery of private or civil rights, or of compensation for their in fraction.
Criminal Actions.—Those actions prose cuted in court of justice, in the name of the government, against one or more indi viduals accused of a crime. See 1 Chitty, Crim. Law.
Local Actions.— Those civil actions the cause of which could have arisen in some particular place or county only. See LocAL