VENUE (L. Lat. visnetum, neighborhood. The word was formerly spelled vise. Co. Litt. 125 a).
The county in which the facts are alleged to have occurred, and from which the jury are to come to try the issue. Gould, Pl. c. 3, § 102; McKenna v.' Fisk, 1 How: (U. S.) 241, 11 L. Ed. 117. Some certain place must be alleged as the place of occurrence for each traversable fact; Com. Dig. Pleader (C. 20). Generally, in modern pleading, in civil practice, no special allegation is needed in the body of the declaration, the venue in the margin being understood to be the place of occurrence till the contrary is shown; Cooke v. Kendall, Hempst. 236, Fed. Cas. No. 2,929 b.
In local actions the true venue must be laid; that is, the action must be brought in the county where the cause of action arose, where the property is situated, in actions af fecting real property; Deacon v. Shreve, 23 N. J. L. 204. Thus, where an action is brought on a lease at common law, founded on privity of contract, as debt or covenant by lessor or lessee; 1 Saund. 241 b ; Henwood v. Cheeseman, 3 S. & R. (Pa.) 500; venue is transitory, but when founded in privity of estate, as in case of assignment, the venue is local; 1 Saund. 257. By various early statutes, however, actions on leases have be come generally transitory. In such action, some particular place, as, a town, village, or parish, must formerly have been designated; Co. Litt. 125. But it is said to be no longer necessary except in replevin; 2 East 503; 1 Chitty, PL 251. As to where the venue is to be laid in case of a change of county lines, see Murphy v. Winter Co., 18 Ga. 690; People v. Stokes, 102 Cal. 501, 36 Pac. 834.
In transitory actions the venue may be laid in any county the plaintiff chooses; that is, he may bring suit wherever he may find the defendant, and lay his cause of action to have arisen there, even though the cause of action arose in a foreign jurisdiction; Steph. P1. 306; Murphy v. Winter, 18 Ga. 690; McKen na v. Fisk, 1 How. (U. S.) 241, 11 L. Ed. 117. In case the cause was to be tried in a differ ent county from that in which the matter ac tually arose, the venue was anciently laid by giving the place of occurrence, with a sci licet giving the place of trial; McKenna v.
Fisk, 1 How. (U. S.) 241,11 L. Ed. 117; Duyck inck v. Ins. Co., 23 N. J. L. 279. In some cases, however, by statutes, the venue in trans itory actions must be laid in the county where the matter occurred or where certain parties reside; 3 Bla. Com. 294.
An action against a municipal corporation must be brought in the county where it is situated; Jones v. Statesville, 97 N. C. 86, 2 S. E. 346; even though it is brought on a trespass committed in another county; Heck scher v. Philadelphia, 20 Wkly. Notes Cas. (Pa.) 52. In Phillips v. Baltimore, 110 Md. 431, 72 Atl. 902, 25 L. R. A. (N. S.) 711, it was held that transitory actions for personal in juries must be brought in the courts of the municipality; but if the action be for tres pass to real property, it must be brought in the county where the trespass occurred; Bal timore v. Turnpike Co., 104 Md. 35, 65 Atl. 35, 10 Ann. Cas. 35.
A township cannot be sued in another coun ty than the one of which it forms a part; Pack v. Greenbush Tp., 62 Mich. 122, 28 N. W. 746; but it has been held that where the action is against a town for an injury caused by a defective road, it can be brought in the county of either party; Hunt v. Pownal, 9 Vt. 411.
In criminal proceedings the venue must be laid in the county where the occurrence actu ally took place; 4 C. & P. 363; and the act must be-proved to have occurred in that juris diction; Heikes v. Com., 26 Pa. 513; Searcy v. State, 4 Tex. 450; People v. Lafuente, 6 Cal. 202. Where the offence is committed by letter, the sender may be tried at the place where the letter is received by the person to whom it is addressed ; In re Palliser, 136 U. S. 256, 10 Sup. Ct. 1034, 34 L. Ed. 514. See In re Cook, 49 Fed. 843. An indictment for murder charging that an offence was commit ted on board of an American vessel on the high seas within the jurisdiction of the court and within the admiralty jurisdiction of the United States, sufficiently avers the locality of the offence; St. Clair v. U. S., 154 U. S. 134, 14 Sup. Ct. 1002, 38 L. Ed. 936. One who obtains goods from a salesman under false pretences may be tried in the county from which the goods were shipped; Com. v. Kar powski, 167 Pa. 225, 31 Atl. 572.