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Atrophy, 

 Attach. 



ATROPHY, (from k, and r^tfu, to nourish,) is 

 a wasting of the body, from defect of nourishment. 

 See Medicine, (j) 



ATTACHMENT (from the corrupt Lat. at- 

 tachiare; Fr. attacker, to tie or fasten), in the com- 

 mon law of England, signifies the taking or appre- 

 hending a person or thing, by a writ or precept is- 

 suing on commandment of a court. 



Attachment differs from arrest : for in arrest, the 

 person apprehended is carried before a person of 

 higher authority, to be disposed of; whereas, he who 

 attaches another, keeps and presents him in court on 

 the day assigned, according to the terms of the writ : 

 prircipimux tibi quod aitachins ta/nn, ct habeas cum 

 coram nobis, &c. There is also this other difference 

 between an arrest and an attachment : the former is 

 made only upon the body of a man ; the latter fre- 

 quently upon his goods. 



Attachment is also a mode of punishing contempts, 

 immemorially used by the superior courts of justice. 

 Contempts, thus punishable, are either direct or con- 

 sequential. The following are the principal instances 

 of either kind : 1. Those committed by inferior 

 judges and magistrates, by acting unjustly, oppres- 

 sively, or irregularly, in the administration of justice; 

 or by disobeying the king's writs issuing out of the 

 superior courts. 2. Those committed by sheriffs, 

 bailiffs, gaolers, and other officers of the court, by 

 abusing the process of the law, or deceiving the par- 

 ties, by acts of oppression, extortion, collusion, or 

 culpable neglect of duty. 3. Those committed by 

 attornies and solicitors, who are also officers of the 

 respective courts, by any species of dishonest prac- 

 tice. 4. Those committed by jurymen, in collateral 

 matters relating to the discharge of their office; such 

 as making default when "summoned, refusing to be 

 sworn, or to give any verdict ; eating and drinking 

 without the leave of the court, &c. but not in the 

 mere exercise of their judicial powers; as by giving 

 a false or erroneous verdict. 5. Those committed 

 by witnesses, by making default when summoned, 

 refusing to be sworn or examined, or prevaricating in 

 their evidence when sworn. 6. Those committed 

 by the parties to any suit ; as by disobeying any rule 

 or order made in the progress of a cause, by non- 

 payment of costs awarded by the court, or by non- 

 observance of awards duly made by arbitrators or 

 umpires. 7. Those committed by any other persons, 

 under the degree of a peer, and even by peers them- 

 se : ves, when enormous and accompanied with violence, 

 Sell as forcible rescuos and the like; or when they 

 import a disobedience to the king's great prerogative 

 writs, of prohibition, habeas corpus, &c. 



The process of attachment for these and the like 

 contempts must necessarily be as ancient as the laws 

 themselves: for it is obvious, that all laws would be 

 vain and nugatory, without a competent authority 

 vested in the courts, to secure their administration 

 from disobedience and contempt. Accordingly we 

 find this process in use, as early as the annals of our 

 law extend. 



Should the contempt be committed in the face of 

 the court, the offender may be instantly apprehended 

 and imprisoned, at the discretion of the judges, with- 

 out any further proof or examination. But in the 



case of contempts arising out of court, if the judges 

 upon affidavit see sufficient grounds for suspecting 

 that a contempt has been committed, they either 

 make a rule on the suspected party,, to shew cause 

 why an attachment should not issue against him ; or, 

 where the contempt has been very flagrant, the at- 

 tachment issues in the first instance ; as it does also, 

 if no sufficient cause be shewn to discharge, and there- 

 upon the court confirms and makes absolute the ori- 

 ginal rule. 



The attachment is merely intended for bringing 

 the offender into court. Thereafter, he either stands 

 committed, or puts in bail, and is interrogated upon 

 oath with respect to the circumstances of the con- 

 tempt. The interrogatories must be exhibited within 

 the first four days. If the party clears himself, he 

 is discharged; but, if perjured, he maybe prosecuted 

 for the perjury. The mode of punishing contempts is 

 by an arbitrary punishment, at the discretion of the 

 court, according to the nature and magnitude of the 

 offence. 



Attachment is used in Chancery, if the defendant, 

 on service of the subpoena, fails to appear within the 

 time limited by the rules of the court. It is a writ 

 of the nature of a capias, directed to the sheriff, and 

 commanding him to attach the defendant, and bring 

 him into court. If the sheriff returns non est in- 

 ventus, then there issues an attachment with procla- 

 mations ; which directs the sheriff to make public 

 proclamations to summon the defendant, upon his al- 

 legiance, personally to appear and answer. If the 

 defendant still persists in contempt, a commission of 

 rebellion is awarded against him, and four commis- 

 sioners are named, any one of whom is to attach him 

 wheresoever he may be found in Great Britain, as a 

 rebel and contemner of the king's laws and govern- 

 ment. If a non est inventus is returned upon this 

 commission of rebellion, the court then sends a Ser- 

 jeant at arms in quest of him ; and if he still eludes 

 the search, a sequestration issues to seize all his per- 

 sonal estate, and the profits of his real, to be detained, 

 subject to the order of the court. After the issuing 

 of an order for sequestration, the plaintiff's bill is to 

 be taken pro coiifesso, and a decree made accordingly; 

 the sequestration being only intended to enforce per- 

 formance of the decree. 



If the defendant is taken up upon any of this pro- 

 cess, he is to be committed to the Fleet, or other 

 prison, until he appears, or answers, or performs 

 whatever else this process is issued to enforce, and 

 also clears his contempts, by paying the costs incur- 

 red by the plaintiff. 



A writ of attachment, or pone (so called from the 

 words of the writ, pone per vadium ct salvos plegios, 

 &c. ) is a writ, not issuing out of Chancery, but out 

 of the court of Common Pleas, founded on the non- 

 appearance of the defendant at the return of the ori- 

 ginal writ ; whereby the sheriff is commanded to at- 

 tach him by taking gage, that is certain of his goods, 

 which shall be forfeited if he does not appear; or by 

 making him find safe pledges, or sureties, for his ap- 

 pearance. This process is also used, without any 

 previous summons, upon actions of trespass vi et ar- 

 mis, or other injuries importing a breach of the 

 peace, as deceit and conspiracy. 



Attach- 

 ment. 



