Secta

In old English law

Suit; attendance at court; witnesses produced by the plaintiff upon counting or declaring, for the purpose of confirming his allegations before the defendant pleaded, the production being expressed in the form with which the declaration still concludes; a suit or action; the prosecution, or following up of one's right at law; pursuit of a felon; a feudal service by which a tenant was bound to attend the lord's court; a customary service on the part of a tenant, to grind his grain at the lord's mill. Secta ad furnum: suit due to a public oven or bake-house. Secta ad molendinum: suit at mill; a service due by usage from the persons resident in a particular place, of carrying their corn to a certain mill to be ground; the writ which constituted the remedy for the withdrawal of such service. Secta ad torrale: suit due to a kiln or malthouse. Secta curiae: suit of court; the service of following the lord in his court, or of attending his court, — a service which all feudal tenants were bound to perform.