Common Bail
Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia · John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914
Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia
Fictitious sureties
In the fictitious proceedings by which the King's Bench extended its jurisdiction of ordinary civil.suits, if the defendant did not appear to the Bill of Middlesex or the Latitat, he was in contempt; this, too, was fictitious; the plaintiff was allowed to enter an appearance for the defendant, with John Doe and Richard Roe as sureties. This •was "common bail."
See Bill of Middlesex.