Penal Action
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
An action for recovery of statute penalty; "penalty" in this case being used in its narrowest sense of a pecuniary punishment for a noncriminal act.
3 Steph. Comm. 535.
See Hawk. P. C. "Informatio." It is distinguished from a popular or qui tarn action, in which the action is brought by the informer, to whom part of the penalty goes. A penal action or information is brought by an officer, and the penalty goes to the king.
1 Chit. Gen. Prac. 25, note; 2 Archb. Prac. 188..PENAL BILL.
The old name for a bond with condition, by which a person is bound to pay a certain sum of money or do a certain act, or, in default thereof, pay a certain sum of money by way of penalty. Jacob, "Bill."