Legal Definition and Related Resources of Actio

In civil law. A specifl.c mode of enforcing a right before the courts of law, e. g., legis actio; actio sacramenti. In this sense we speak of actions in our law, e. g., the action of debt. The right to a remedy, thus: Ex irndo pacta non oritur actio, no right of action can arise upon a naked pact. In this sense we rarely use the word action. 3 Ortolan, Inst. § 1830; 5 Savigny, System, 10; Mackeld. Civ. Law (13th Ed.) § 193. The first sense here given is the older one. Justinian, following Celsus, gives the well-known definition: Actio nihil aliud est, quam jus persequendi in judicio, quod sibi debetur, which may be thus rendered: An action is simply the right to enforce one’s demand in a court of law. Inst. 4. 6, De Actionibus. See Action. Divisions : According to Nature. In the sense of a specific form of remedy, there are various divisions of actiones. Actiones civiles are those forms of remedies which were established under the rigid and inflexible system of the civil law, the jus civile. Actiones honorariae are those which were gradually introduced by the praetors and aediles, by virtue of their equitable powers, in order to prevent the failure of justice which too often resulted from the employment of the actiones civiles. These were found so beneficial in practice that they eventually supplanted the old remedies, of which, in the time of Justinian, hardly a trace remained. Mackeld. Civ. Law, § 194; 5 Savigny, System. Directae actiones, as a class, were forms of remedies for cases clearly defined and recognized as actionable by the law. Utiles actiones were remedies granted by the magistrate in cases to which no actio directa was applicable. They were framed for the special occasion, by analogry to the existing form, and were generally fictitious; that is, they proceeded upon the assumption that a state of things existed which would have entitled the party to an actio directa, and the cause was tried upon this assumption, which the other party was not allowed to dispute. 5 Savigny, System, § 215. According to Subject-Matter. Again there are actiones in personam and actiones in rem. The former class includes all remedies for the breach of an obligation, and are considered to be directed against the person of the vrrongdoer. The second class comprehends all remedies devised for the recovery of property, or the enforcement of a right not founded upon a contract be tween the parties, and are therefore considered as rather aimed at the thing in dispute than at the person of the defendant. Mackeld. Civ. Law, i 195; 5 Savigny, System, §§ 206-209; 3 Ortolan, Inst. § 1952 et seq. According to Object. In respect to their object, actions are either (a) actiones rei persequendae causa comparatae, for the recovery of property or damages, to which class belong all actiones in rem, and those of the actiones in personam, which were directed merely to the recovery of the value of a thing, or compensation for an injury; or (b) actiones poenales (called, also, actiones ex delicto), in which a penalty was recovered of the delinquent; or (c) actiones mixtae, in which were recovered both the actual damages and a penalty in addition. Actiones poenales and actiones mixtae comprehended cases of injuries for which the civil law permitted redress by private action, but which modern civilization universally regards as crimes; that is, offenses against society at large, and punished by proceedings in the name of the state alone. Thus, theft, receiving stolen goods, robbery, malicious mischief, and the murder or negligent homicide of a slave (in which case an injury to property was involved), gave rise to private actions for damages against the delinquent. Inst. 4. 1. De obligationibus quae ex delicto nascuntur. Id. 2. De bonis vi raptis. Id. 3, De lege aquilia. And see Mackeld. Civ. Law, § 196, 5 Savigny, System, §§ 210-212. According to Pfocedure. In respect to the mode of procedure, actiones in personam are divided into stricti juris, and bonae fidei actiones. In the former, the court was confined to the strict letter of the law, in the latter, something was left to the discretion of the judge, who was governed in his decision by considerations of what ought to be expected from an honest man under circumstances similar to those of the plaintiff or defendant. Mackeld. Civ. Law, § 197a. Besides this classification, the different actions had specific names, the principal of which follow.

What does Actio mean in American Law?

The definition of Actio in the law of the United States, as defined by the lexicographer Arthur Leff in his legal dictionary is:

The usual translation is “action,” as in “legal action,” “action in trespass,” etc. Hence the word shows up in Latin in almost as many contexts as it does in English.

First, “actio,” standing alone, or in the term “legis actio,” often refers to one of a small group of the very earliest legal proceedings in Roman law, the leges actiones.

But “actio” also appears in the name of a large number of later Romancivil law actions, e.g., “actio furti,” etc. Even in modem civil law, e.g., today’s French law, a particular kind of legal action may have some such name in the ordinary speech of lawyers and judges though it may be technically “a proceeding pursuant to § 453.47 of the Civil Code.”

In addition, a common law action, especially at a time when the law language was at least half Latin, might also be called an “actio” for short, and some of them might resemble civil law actiones too. Whether this is because there was actual early influence of Roman law on indigenous law, or because certain early common law commentators (e.g., Bracton) decided to categorize independently generated common law in the more elegant civil law framework, is not clear.

In any event, in the ensuing pages there are a number of entries which begin with or include the word actio. Some refer to Roman law actions, some to modem civil law actions, some to common law actions, some to roughly similar actions in Roman, civil, and common law, and some to other phrases that just happen to use the word actio. No attempt has been made to be exhaustive about any of these actio categories, and only the most important (or at least most frequently mentioned) of the Roman-civil law uses have been included. And in almost every case the entry will do little more than roughly indicate what the “actio” was about, necessarily leaving

readers with a need for more substantial information to get it elsewhere.

Browse

You might be interested in these references tools:

This defin
ition of Actio Is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This entry needs to be proofread.

Vocabularies (Semantic Web Information)

<

Actio in the Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims

Latin. A doing, performing: an action, or right of action.

Note: This legal definition of Actio in the Dictionary of Law (English and American Jurisprudence) is from 1893.

Concept of “Actio”

Traditional meaning of actio in English (with some legal use of this latin concept in England and the United States in the XIX Century) [1]: (in Latin) An action; cause. Actio bonae fidei: an action of good faith. Actio ex contractu: an action based on contract; ex delicto, on tort. Actio in personam, against the person; in rem, against the thing, or property; see AD REM. Actio mixta: against both person and property. Actio nominata: a named action; an action where there was a writ de cursu, existing before Westminster II.; see TRESPASS; CASE; ACTION. Actio non, Actionem non: words anciently beginning a special plea, averring that the plaintiff ought not to maintain his action. Actio non accrevit infra sex annos: the (plaintiff’s) claim did not accrue within six years; see 3rd Book (“Of Private Wrongs”), Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England 308. Actio non datur non damnificato: no action is given to one who is not injured. Actio personalis moritur cum persona: a personal right of action dies with the person; see 3rd Book (“Of Private Wrongs”), Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England 302.

Resources

Notes and References

1. Based on A Concise Law Dictionary of Words, Phrases and Maxims, “Actio”, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1911, United States. It is also called the Stimson’s Law dictionary. This term and/or definition may be absolete.

See Also

Meaning of Actio

In this law dictionary, the legal term actio is a kind of the Roman, Civil law Legal History class.

Resources

See Also