1. To keep (lands) from the true owner by means of force.
2. To oust another from possession by means of force.
3. To detain (a creditor’s money) unjustly and forcibly. — deforciant, n.
“The character of the action of debt is well illustrated by the form of the writ as given by Glanville. It directs the sheriff to order the debtor to render a stated sum which he owes to the plaintiff, ‘and whereof the plaintiff complains that the defendant unjustly deforces him,’ and, if he will not obey, he is to be summoned before the King’s Court. The plaintiff is ‘deforced’ of money just as in a writ of right he is ‘deforced’ of land. It is true that the term ‘deforces’ disappeared from the writ shortly after Glanville’s time, the word debet taking its place; but this seems to have been a matter of form, not of substance. The plaintiff sought to recover the money due as his property.” William F. Walsh, Outlines of the History of English and American Law 411 (1924).
