Pass On The Case

In practice. A form of personal action ex delicto, less ancient than the other forms, invented under the authority of the statute of Westminster 2, (13 Edw. I.) c. 24, as a remedy for injuries to which the older forms were not adapted, and intended to supply the defect which in this respect was found to exist in the original scheme of personal actions. 3 Steph. Com. 461. Steph. Pl. 6, 16. (Am. ed. 1824.) It received the name of case from the circumstance of the plaintiff's whole case or cause of complaint being set forth at length in the original writ, contrary to the usual practice in those formulae. Reg. Orig. 105, 106. 3 Bl. Com. 122. It was called trespass on the case, because it was devised upon the analogy of the old form of trespass. 3 Steph. Com. ub. sup. The first example in the books of the use of this action, or rather the earliest reported case in which it is mentioned, occurs in the reign of Edward III. 22 Ass. 41. 3 Reeves' Hist. Eng. Law, 89. See Id. 243, 391. And see 1 Spence's Chancery, 237-243. This action is very comprehensive in its scope, and may be said to lie in every case where damages are claimed for an injury to person or property, not falling within the compass of the other forms. 3 Steph. Com. 462. 3 Wooddes. Lect. 88-119. It is the peculiar and appropriate remedy for injuries committed without force, and where the damage sustained is only consequential. 3 Bl. Com. 122, 123. See further as to this action, and the particular cases in which it lies, 1 Chitt. Pl. 132-145. U. S. Digest, Action upon the case, I., and Supplement, h. t. U. S. Digest, 1847, 1848, h. t.