form of action

form of action. The common-law legal and procedural device associated with a particular writ, each of which had specific forms of process, pleading, trial, and judgment. • The 11 common-law forms of action were trespass, trespass on the case, trover, ejectment, detinue, replevin, debt, covenant, account, special assumpsit, and general assumpsit. [Cases: Action 29; Federal Civil Procedure 71. C.J.S. Actions §§ 74–77.]

“Forms of action are usually regarded as different methods of procedure adapted to cases of different kinds, but in fact the choice between forms of action is primarily a choice between different theories of substantive liability, and the scope of the actions measures the existence and extent of liability at common law…. The development and extension of the different forms of action is the history of the recognition of rights and liability in the law of torts, contracts, and property, and the essentials of rights of action.” Benjamin J. Shipman, Handbook of Common-Law Pleading §§ 27, 30, at 54, 60 (Henry Winthrop Ballantine ed., 3d ed. 1923).

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