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A Dictionary of Law · Henry Campbell Black · 1891

A Dictionary of Law

Writ of. In old English practice. This was a writ made use of in a form of real action brought to recover the possession of lands from one who wrongfully withheld the same from the demandant. Its object was to regain the possession of lands of which the demandant, or his ancestors, had been unjustly deprived by the tenant of the freehold, or those under whom he claimed, and hence it belonged to the possessory division of real actions. It decided nothing with respect to the right of property, but only restored the demandant to that situation in which he was (or by law ought to have been) before the dispossession committed.

3 Bl. Comm. 180.

It was usual to specify in such writs the degree or degrees within which the writ was brought, and it was said to be "in the per" or "in the per and cui," according as there had been one or two descents or alienations from the original wrongdoer.