imprisonment for debt
imprisonment for debt. Hist. Detention of a debtor by court order to force the debtor to pay certain civil obligations. • The remedy was usu. available only when the debt arose from nonpayment of taxes or fines owed to the Crown, or from the debtor’s failure to pay court-ordered support or alimony, or from the debtor’s failure to obey a decree ad factum praestandum. — Also termed civil imprisonment. See decree ad factum praestandum under DECREE.