Withernam

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Withernam \With"er*nam\, n. [AS. wi[eth]ern[=a]m; wi[eth]er
     against + n[=a]m a seizure, fr. niman to take.] (Law)
     A second or reciprocal distress of other goods in lieu of
     goods which were taken by a first distress and have been
     eloigned; a taking by way of reprisal; -- chiefly used in the
     expression capias in withernam, which is the name of a writ


     used in connection with the action of replevin (sometimes
     called a writ of reprisal), which issues to a defendant in
     replevin when he has obtained judgment for a return of the
     chattels replevied, and fails to obtain them on the writ of
     return. --Blackstone.
     [1913 Webster]
     [1913 Webster]
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From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  WITHERNAM, practice. The name of a writ which issues on the return of 
  elongata to an alias or pluries writ of replevin, by which the sheriff is 
  commanded to take the defendant's own goods which may be found in his 
  bailiwick, and keep them safely, not to deliver them to the plaintiff until 
  such time as the defendant chooses to submit himself, and allow the 
  distress, and the whole of it, to be reprieved, and he is thereby further 
  commanded that he do return to the court in what manner he shall have 
  executed the writ. Hamm. N. P. 453; 2 Inst. 140; F. N. B. 68, 69; 19 Vin. 
  Ab. 7; 7 Com. Dig. 674; Grotius, 3, 2, 4, n. 1.