Form

1.

Established method of expression or practice; a fixed way of proceeding.

Compare Course, 3. 3.

The model of an instrument or legal proceeding; a formula.^ See Blanks. Opposed to substance. That without which the right sufficiently appears to the court is ' ' form. " Whatever Is wanting or imperfect, by reason whereof the right appears not, is a defect of substance.' Matter of form is whatever relates, not to the purpose or object of an instrument, or to a right involved in, or affected by, it, but merely to the language or expression, without affecting the issue presented, the evidence requisite, the right of a party, or a step necessary in furtherance of legal proceedings.

Formal.

Belonging or essential to the form or frame of a thing; not of the substance: as, a formal defect or irregularity, a formal party, q. v.; also, according to regular method of procedure. Opposed, substantial, real. See Demurrer. Form of action. The peculiar technical mode of framing the writ and pleadings appropriate to the particular injury which the action is intended to redress.* Forms of action. The classes into which actions at lavr are divided. Distinguishable, by peculiarities in the writs and pleadings, at common law, as account, annuity, assumpsit, covenant, debt, detinue, ejectment, replevin, trespass on the case; in some juris- '2 Daniel, Neg, Inst., 2 ed., § 1369, cases; Collins v. Gilbert, 91 U. S. 754 (1876), cases; Franks.

Lanier, 91 N. T. 116 (1883), cases. See also 4 Wash. 726; 66 6a. 53; 19 Iowa, 299; 29 id. 493, 495; 62 id. 68; 2 Me. 363; 60 id. 409; 3 Gray, 441; 114 Mass. 318; 16 Minn. 473; 46 N. H. 267; 1 Wend. 200; 9 id. 141; 17 id. 229; 91 N. Y. 113; 15 Ohio, 721; 1 Ohio St. 187; 2 Binn. 629; 3 Phila. 351; 32 Pa. 529; 89 id.

432; 37 Tex. 692; 2 Bish. Cr. L. § 495, 2 Cr. Pr. § 398; 3 Chitty, Cr. L. 1032; 2 Whart. Cr. L. § 1418; 2 Arch. Cr. Pr. 797; 4 Cr. L. Mag. 545, 865. ' See Webster's Diet. dictions are or have also been included, injunction, mandamus, scire facias. In Kansas there is but one form of action, called a civil action. The plaintiff, for cause of action, states the actual facts, mthout common-law forms or fictions.^ lu Pennsylvania, by an act approved May 25, 1887 <P. L. 271), the forms of action are assumpsit^ to which the plea of the general issue is " non assumpsit," with the privilege of pleading payment, set off, and the statute of limitation; and trespass, in which the only plea is *' not guilty." Where the common-law forms have been abolished, the principles governing them at common law are frequently invoked. Where the formal distinctions between actions are abolished, the declaration states the facts which constitute the cause of action... When the facts are plainly and distinctly stated, the action will be regarded as either in tort or in contract; having regard, first, to the character of the remedy such facts indicate; and, second, to the most complete and ample redress which, upon the facts stated, the law can afford." See Action, 2; Conk. Form of the statute. The provision or enactment, the prohibition or direction, of a statute. Against the form of the statute. A technical phrase used in an indictment for a statutory offense; the "conclusion against the statute." '* Against the form of the statute in such case made and provided " is the usual expression, but any equivalent expression will be suf Hcient — any phrase which shows that the offense charged is founded on some statute.'

Formality.

Established order or method, rule of proceeding or expression. Opposed, informality.* Compare Eefobm; Unifobji. See Mamneb; Substance; Technical.