— Part VII.
Forms of Action.
41
such as rights of wa}^ (p), franchises, commons, churches (q) etc., action on the case lay.
hereditaments,
pews
in
64. An action on the case for waste (r) was found more convenient than the real action founded on the writ of waste. It had the disadvantage that the plaintiff could not recover the place wasted but this was remedied, in the case of demises by deed, by reserving a power of re-entry on the lessee committing waste and it had the advantage of being maintainable by the remainderman for life, or Also the plaintiff for years, as well as by a tenant in fee or tail. could recover his costs, which he could not do in an action of waste. Where a lease contained a covenant against waste the lessor had an option either to bring an action on the covenant or on the but it is doubtful whether an action on the case lay ease {s) against a tenant for permissive waste {a).
s^ct.
i.
Old Forms of Action. Case ase for fc waste.
65. An action of champerty (b) lay if, w^hen goods, chattels. Champerty, land, or debt were in suit, a man by covenant or agreement in writing, or by word of mouth, bargained to take part of so much as the plaintiff' should recover, and in return agreed to maintain and aid him in his action. The suit was said to be the King's suit, yet the party himself might sue the writ out of Chancery. 66. An action for conspiracy (c) lay at the suit of a person Conspiracy, acquitted of a charge of felony against two or more persons who had fraudulently and covinously conspired and devised to indict him therefor. If one person only devised the wrongful indictment, the remedy was an action on the case. If the conspirators procured a person to sue an appeal of felony or murder against another without indicting him, the action of conspiracy would not lie, but the remedy was by writ of scire facias. 67. An action of clecies tantum (cl) was the remedy against embracery, and lay against jurors who had allowed themselves to be
Decies t^^^^"^^^^-
and that whether their verdict was true or false, and also against the embracer, if he had received money. Its name was derived from the plaintiff demanding ten times the amount of the bribe. It was abolished in the reign of George IV. {e). bribed,
68. Detinue (/) grew out of the contractual action of debt {c)), and was brought to recover specific goods of the plaintiff and (p) 1 EoU. Abr. (166S ed.), fols. 104—106; 1 Com. Dig. tit. "Action upon the Case for a Disturbance," A 2. lay rector, however, could not [q) Stocks y. Booth (1786), 1 Term Eep. 428. grant a pew in the chancel of a church, so as to give the grantee a right to bring an action on the case for disturbance {Clifford v. Wicks (1818), 1 B. & Aid. 498). (r) Eoscoe, 383; Greene v. Oole (1670), 2 Saund. 252. (s) Kinlysidey. Thornton (1776), 2 Wm. Bl. 1111. (a) Heme v. Bemhow (1813), 4 Taunt. 764, citing The Countess of Shrewshurif s Case (1600), 5 Co. Eep. 13 b (which, however, was a case of a tenant at will). (6) Fitz. Nat. Brev. 172. See p. o3, post. Champerty was forbidden by 3 Edw. 1, c. 25, 13 Edw. 1, c. 49, and by " Articula supra Chartis." (c) Fitz. Nat. Brev. 114. See titles Criminal Law, Torts. ((/) Fitz. Nat. Brev. 171. (e) 6 Geo. 4, c. 50, s. 62, repealing 38 Edw. 3, c. 12. (/) Fitz. Nat. Brev. 138. ((/) See p. 37, cmte. -
A
Detinue,
