Legal Definition and Related Resources of Bill of middlesex

An old form of process similar to a capias, issued out of the court of king”s bench in personal actions, directed to the sheriff of the county of Middlesex (hence the name), and commanding him to take the defendant and have him before the king at Westminster on a day named, to answer the plaintiff”s complaint. Once, when the court sat at Oxford, it was termed a “Bill of Oxfordshire.” 3 Steph. Comm. 404, note (1). It was abolished by St. 2 Wm. IV. c. 39.

What does Bill Of Middlesex mean in American Law?

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

The English Court of Kings Bench did not originally have general jurisdiction over purely civil actions, though it did have jurisdiction over trespass. To acquire wider civil jurisdiction, it developed [the] following scheme. The court would issue a command to the sheriff of Middlesex directing him to arrest the civil defendant for a (purely imaginary) trespass. If he was found in Middlesex and brought before the court, they just tried the case really at issue. If the sheriff could not find him in Middlesex, he so reported and the court ordered the sheriff of the county in which he could be found to bring him in, pretending that he had really escaped thence from Middlesex. Then they tried the actual dispute. Eventually, the court dropped the vain search in Middlesex, and the whole charade was finally rendered unnecessary by an 1833 statute. Cf- ac etiam; legal fiction.

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This definition of Bill Of Middlesex Is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This definition needs to be proofread..

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