Attachment is a legal process by which a

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

of law, at the request of a creditor, designates specific property owned by the debtor to be transferred to the creditor, or sold for the benefit of the creditor. A wide variety of legal mechanisms are employed by debtors to prevent the attachment of their assets.

Prejudgment attachment

Prejudgment attachment or Prejudgment writ of attachment allows recovery of money damages by levying a

security interest In finance, a security interest is a legal right granted by a debtor to a creditor over the debtor's property (usually referred to as the ''collateral'') which enables the creditor to have recourse to the property if the debtor defaults in makin ...

on the property of the party paying money damages. A writ of attachment is filed to secure debt or claim of the creditor in the event that a judgment is rendered. Foreign attachment procedures have existed from time to time in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, where it was known as ''arrestment''; in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, where it was known as '' saisie arret''; in the

U.S The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and elsewhere. (

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

) Prejudgment attachment in Chinese litigation proceeding can be obtained by the plaintiff before filing the case with court or arbitration commission in the case of emergency where failure to take immediate action will result in irreparable damage to relevant party. However, the party shall file its case with court or arbitration body within thirty days after the prejudgment attachment is granted by courts. Writ 1702

Historical London procedure

The person holding the property or owing the money had to be within the City at the time of being served with the process, but all persons were entitled to the benefit of the custom. The

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of t ...

having started the action, and made a satisfactory

affidavit An ( ; Medieval Latin for "he has declared under oath") is a written statement voluntarily made by an ''affiant'' or '' deponent'' under an oath or affirmation which is administered by a person who is authorized to do so by law. Such a stateme ...

of his

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...

, was entitled to issue attachment, which thereupon affected all the money or property of the defendant in the hands of the third party, the

garnishee Garnishment is a legal process for collecting a monetary judgment on behalf of a plaintiff from a defendant. Garnishment allows the plaintiff (the "garnishor") to take the money or property of the debtor from the person or institution that holds ...

. The garnishee had all the defences which would be available to him against the defendant, his alleged creditor. If there had been no fraud or collusion, the garnishee could plead payment under the attachment. The court to which this process belonged was the

Lord Mayor's Court The Mayor's and City of London Court is a sitting of the County Court in the City of London. It is located at Guildhall Buildings, Basinghall Street. History The current court is the successor to courts pre-dating the County Courts Act 1846, w ...

, the procedure of which was regulated by the Mayor's Court of London Procedure Act 1857. This custom, and all proceedings relating to it, were expressly exempted from the operation of the

Debtor's Act 1869 The Debtors Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 62) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that aimed to reform the powers of courts to detain debtors. Detail In England, debtors owing money could be easily det ...

Attachment of earnings

Attachment of earnings, also known as garnishment, is a process whereby the creditor attaches money owed to the debtor by the debtor's employer.

References

Judicial remedies Civil procedure Legal history of England City of London {{law-term-stub

Prejudgment attachment

Historical London procedure

Attachment of earnings

See also

References