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venire facias

English edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Latin venire facias (“that you make or cause to come”), from the opening words of the writ.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

venire facias (plural venire faciases)

  1. (law) A judicial writ or precept directed to the sheriff, requiring him to cause a certain number of qualified persons to appear in court at a specified time to serve as jurors.
    • 1702, G[iles] D[uncombe], Tryals per Pais: or, the Law of England Concerning Juries by Nisi Prius, &c. Newly Revised, and much Enlarged, with an Addition of Precedents, and Forms of Challenges, Demurrers upon Evidence, Bills of Exception, Pleas Puis le Darrein Continuance, &c. The Fourth Edition with Large Additions. To which is now Added, a farther Treatise of Evidence. Together with a New and Exact Table to the whole Matter. Very Useful and Necessary for all Lawyers, Attornies and other Practisers, especially at the Assises, 4th edition, London: Printed by the Assigns of Rich. and Edw. Atknis [sic: Atkins], Esquires, for J. Walthoe in Middle-Temple Cloysters, →OCLC, pages 30–31:
      [A] Venire facias is the foundation and Cauſa ſine qua non, of a Jury (I mean in Civil Causes; for in Criminals, as upon Indictments, the Justices of Gaol-Delivery, give a general Command to Sheriff, to cauſe the Country to come against their coming, and take the Pannels of the Sheriff, without any Proceſs directed to him; yet Proceſs may be made againſt the Jury, though it is not much uſed. […]) I will firſt recite the Writ in terminis, the rather becauſe I intend to order my Diſcourse, according to the method of the Writ. / Rex. &c. Vic. B. Salutem. Præcipimus tibi quod venire facias coram Juſticiariis noſtris de Banco apud Weſtm. tali die, duodecim liberos & legales homines de vicinet. de C. quorum quilibet habeat quatuor libras terræ, […]
    • 1729, Giles Jacob, A New Law-dictionary Containing the Interpretation and Definition of Words and Terms Used in the Law; and also the Whole Law, and the Practice thereof, under all the Heads and Titles thereof. Together with such Informations Relating thereto, as Explain the History and Antiquity of the Law, and our Manners, Customs, and Original Government. Abstracted from all Dictionaries, Abridgements, Institutes, Reports, Year-Books, Charters, Registers, Chronicles, and Histories, Published to this Time. And Fitted for the Use of Barristers, Students, and Practisers of the Law, Members of Parliament, and other Gentlemen, Justices of Peace, Clergymen, &c., In the Savoy [London]: Printed by E. and R. Nutt, and R. Gosling, (Assigns of E. Sayer, Esq;) for J. and J. Knapton [et al.], →OCLC, page [704]:
      Venire facias, A Writ judicial awarded to the Sheriff to cauſe a Jury of the Neighbourhood to appear, when a Cauſe is brought to Iſſue, to try the ſame; and if the Jury come not at the Day of this Writ, then there ſhall go a Habeas Corpora, and after a Diſtreſs until they appear.
    • 1791, George Croke, “Goddard against Hampton”, in Harbottle Grimston, Thomas Leach, editors, Reports of Sir George Croke, Knight, formerly One of the Justices of the Courts of King's-Bench and Common-Pleas, of such Select Cases as were Adjudged in the Said Courts during the Reign of James the First. Collected and Written in French, by Himself; Revised and Published in English by Sir Harbottle Grimston, Baronet, Master of the Rolls. The Fourth Edition, Corrected, with Marginal Notes and References to the Later Reports, and other Books of Authority, by Thomas Leach, Esq. of the Middle Temple, Barrister at Law, 4th corr. edition, volume II, London: Printed for E. and R. Brooke, Bell-Yard, Temple-Bar; and Whieldon and Butterworth, No. 43, Fleet-Street, →OCLC, page 458:
      After verdict, it was moved in arreſt of judgment, that one John Wale was returned upon the venire facias, and upon the diſtringas one John Wats was returned and ſworn. Upon examination it appeared that the juror was named John Wats, and not John Wale.—Wherefore the Court held, that the trial was ill, and the record not amendable.
  2. (law, historical) A summons to cause the party indicted on a penal statute to appear.
    • 1729, Giles Jacob, A New Law-dictionary Containing the Interpretation and Definition of Words and Terms Used in the Law; and also the Whole Law, and the Practice thereof, under all the Heads and Titles thereof. Together with such Informations Relating thereto, as Explain the History and Antiquity of the Law, and our Manners, Customs, and Original Government. Abstracted from all Dictionaries, Abridgements, Institutes, Reports, Year-Books, Charters, Registers, Chronicles, and Histories, Published to this Time. And Fitted for the Use of Barristers, Students, and Practisers of the Law, Members of Parliament, and other Gentlemen, Justices of Peace, Clergymen, &c., In the Savoy [London]: Printed by E. and R. Nutt, and R. Gosling, (Assigns of E. Sayer, Esq;) for J. and J. Knapton [et al.], →OCLC, page [705]:
      Venire facias, Is alſo the common Proceſs upon any Preſentment, being in Nature of a Summons for the Party to appear; and is a proper Proceſs to be firſt awarded on an Indictment for any Crime, under the Degree of Treaſon, Felony, or Maihem, except in ſuch Caſes wherein other Proceſs is directed by Statute: […]
  3. (law, historical) (Clipping of venire facias ad respondendum.) A writ directed to the sheriff, requiring him to cause the person named in the writ to appear in court to respond to a civil (non-criminal) claim against him or her.
    • 1831, G[eorge] Price, Attorney's Practice in the Exchequer of Pleas, being a Practical Summary of the Course and Forms of Proceeding at Law by the Exchequer Process, London: Saunders and Benning, law booksellers, (successors to J[oseph] Butterworth & Son,) 43, Fleet Street, →OCLC, pages 130–131:
      Process of Venire facias ad respondendum is a writ addressed to the Sheriff, commanding him that he cause the party who is the object of it to come before the Barons of the Exchequer on a day certain (either a general or a special return day) to answer the suitor of a plea of debt, (&c.) […] At this day the Venire facias is regarded and used (like all other mesne process) in this department of the Court as a mere measure of compelling appearance or bringing a party before the Court, differing from other mesne process only in tenor and form, not in object or ultimate effect; and it has no distinct influence on subsequent proceedings. […] The following is the form of the Venire facias: William the Fourth, by the grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, To the Sheriff of [county] greeting.—We command you that you omit not by reason of any liberty of your county, but that you enter the same, and cause [the defendant's name] to come before the Barons of our Exchequer at Westminster […]

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Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “venire facias”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

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