PROCESS. In Practice. The means of compelling a defendant to appear in court, after suing out the original writ, in civil, and after indictment, in criminal, cases.
The method taken by law to compel a compliance with the original writ or com mands of the court.
A writ, warrant, subpoena, or other for mal writing issued by authority of law ; also the means of accomplishing an end, includ ing judicial proceedings; Gollobitsch v. Rain bow, 84 Ia. 567, 51 N. W. 48; the means or method pointed out by a statute, or used to acquire jurisdiction of the defendants, whether by writ or notice. Wilson v. R. Co., 108 Mo. 588, 18 S. W. 286, 32 Am. St. Rep. 624.
In civil causes, in all real actions and for injuries not committed against the peace, the first step was a summons, which was served in personal actions by two persons called summoners, in real actions by erect ing a white stick or wand on the defend ant's grounds. If this summons was dis regarded, the next step was an attachment of the goods of the defendant, and in case of trespasses the attachment issued at once without a summons. If the attachment fail ed, a distringas issued, which was continued till he appeared. Here process ended in in juries not committed with force. In case of such injuries, an arrest of the person was provided for. See ARREST. In modern prac
tice some of these steps are omitted ; but the practice of the different states is too various to admit of tracing here the differ ences which have resulted from retaining different steps of the process.
In the English law, process in civil causes is called original process, when it is founded upon the original writ ; and also to distin guish it from mesne or intermediate pro cess, which issues pending the suit, upon some collateral interlocutory matter, as, to summon juries, witnesses, and the like ; mesne process is also sometimes put in con tradistinction to final process, or process of execution; and then it signifies all process which intervenes between the beginning and end of a suit. 3 Bla. Com. 279. See REGU LAR PROCESS ; OBSTRUCTING PROCESS ; SHER IFF; SERVICE. • No court can, at common law, exercise jurisdiction over a party unless he is served with the process within the territorial ju risdiction of the court, or voluntarily ap pears ; Mexican C. R. Co. v. Pinkney, 149 U. S. 194, 13 Sup. Ct. 859, 37 L. Ed. 699. See JURISDICTION.
As to the grant of letters patent for a process, see PATENT.