Arraign

To call one accused of crime to answer in form of law; to call him to the bar of the court to answer the matter of which he is indicted, or, according to Lord Coke, it is to take order that he ap- \ pear, and for certainty of the person, to hold up his hand, and to plead a sufficient plea. v. Arraigner; Ad rationem ponere.

In old English law

To order, or set in order; to conduct in an orderly manner; to prepare for trial. To arraign an assise was to cause the tenant to be called to make the plaint and to set the cause in such order as the tenant might be enforced to answer thereunto. To bring or prosecute. The terms arrainare and arramare (qq. v.) had ceeding by appeal. The word, in its application to proceedings, is now obsolete.