“With the verdict of the jury [in the 15th–18th centuries] … the proceedings at nisi prius closed, and the case was sent back to the court at Westminster from which it issued for judgment, after a statement of the holding of the trial and of the verdict had been added to the record. This statement, from the fact that it began with the Latin word ‘postea,’ or ‘afterwards,’ was known as the ‘postea’ and was in fact drafted by the party in whose favour the verdict had gone, whence the phrase ‘postea to the plaintiff’ or ‘the defendant,’ which is found in the old reports.” Geoffrey Radcliffe & Geoffrey Cross, The English Legal System 185 (G.J. Hand & D.J. Bentley eds., 6th ed. 1977).
postea
postea (poh-stee-[schwa]), n. [Latin “afterwards”] Hist. A formal statement, endorsed on the trial record, giving an account of the proceedings at trial; a record of what occurred at nisi prius after the issue had been joined.
