Elegit

Lat. [from Wt^«re, to choose.] (He has chosen.) In practice. A writ of execution given by the statute of Westminster 2, (13 Edw. I.) c. 18, on jud^ents for debt or damages, or upon recognizance, and commanding the sheriff to deliver to the plaintiff all the defendant's goods and chattels, (beasts of the plough excepted,) and if these were not sufficient, a moiety of the defendant's lands, to hold until out of the rents and profits thereof the debt be levied, or till the defendant's interest be expired; and during such term or period the plaintiff is called tenant by elegit, and the estate created by such tenancy is termed an eetaU by elegit.

Beg. Ort^.299, 301. Beg.Jud.2. Co. Litt. 289 b. 3 Bl. Com. 418. 2 Id. 161. 1 Steph. Com. 287.

The statute gave the plaintiff his election to have either & fieri facias or this writ, and when the plaintiff prayed this writ, the entry on the roll was, quod elegit sibi executionem fieri de omnibue catallis et medietate terra, (that he hath elected to have execution of all the chattels and half of the land [of the defendant],) and the writ itself had a similar recital, quia elegit eibi liberari omnia bona, <bc. Hence the name of elegit. Beg* Orig. and Beg, Jud. ub. sup. This writ is st Ul in use in some of the United States, as Virginia, Kentucky and Alabama. 4 Kenfs Com. 431, 436, and notes. In England, a material alteration has lately been made in its form by the stat.

1 A: 2 Vict. c. 110, s.

11, which provides that upon an elegit the sheriff shall dehver the whole of the defendant's lands, instead of a moiety as before.

1 Steph. Com. 287, 288. Sid. 662. Sewel Vs Sheriff, 204. 2 Crabb's Beal Prop. 924, § 2288. 15 Mees. A W. 764.