Action, conduct, something done; also the form prescribed by Law for the recovery of one's due, or the lawful demand of one's right. Bracton (Bk. 3, cap. 1) defines it:-Actio nihil aliud est quam jus prosequendi in judicio quod alicui debetur.-(An action is nothing else than the right of suing in a court of justice for that which is due to some one.) Actions are divided into criminal and civil: criminal actions are more properly called prosecutions, and perhaps actions penal, to recover some penalty under statute, are properly criminal actions. There were formerly three classes of actions in England: personal actions, in which the plaintiff sought to recover a debt or damages from the defendant; real actions, in which he sought to establish his title to land or other hereditaments; mixed actions, in which he sought only to establish his right to possession of land. All forms of action are now abolished, but there still inevitably remains the distinction between actions in personam brought against an individual, actions in rem, which determine questions of title, and possessory actions, which decide merely the right to have physical control of the property in dispute (Odgers on the Common Law, p. 1254). For old forms of actions, see under their respective titles-e.g., COVENANT; ASSUMPSIT; TRESPASS; CASE; TROVER; DETINUE; REPLEVIN; EJECTMENT. See also VENUE.
The term 'action' is now applied to all proceedings in the Supreme Court which would have been commenced by writ in the Superior Courts of Common Law, the Court of Common Pleas at Lancaster, and the Court of Pleas at Durham; and all suits formerly commenced by bill or informa-tion in the Court of Chancery or by a cause in the Court of Admiralty, or in the Court of Probate [(English) Jud. Act, 1925, s. 225, and R. S. C. 1883, Ord. I., r. 1].
Also stock or shares in a company or corporation, Fr. Comm. Law.
'Action' means administrative action taken by way of decision, recommendation or finding or in any other manner and includes wilful failure or omission to act and all other expressions [relating to] such action shall be construed accordingly. [Karnataka Lokayukta Act, 1984, (4 of 1984), s. 2(1)]
A perusal of the definition indicates that it encompasses administrative action taken in any form whether by way of recommendation or finding or 'in any other manner', e.g., granting licenses or privileges, awarding contract, distributing Government land under statutory Rules or otherwise or withholding decision on any matter etc., State of Karnataka v. Kempaiahi, AIR 1998 SC 3047 (3049): (1998) 6 SCC 103. [Karnataka Lokayukta Act, 1984 (4 of 1984), s. 2(1)]
The term 'action' and 'suit' are nearly if not quite synonymous. But lawyers usually speak of proceedings in courts of law as 'action' and of those in courts of equity as 'suit.' In olden times there was a more marked distinction, for an action was considered as terminating when judgment was rendered, the execution forming no part of it. A suit, on the other hand, included the execution. The word 'suit' as used in the Judiciary Act of 1784 and later Federal Statutes applies to any proceeding in a Court of Justice in which the plaintiff pursues in such court the remedy which the law affords him, Edwin E. Bryant, the Law of Pleading under the Codes of Civil Procedure, 3 (2nd Edn., 1899).
In the sense of a judicial proceeding includes recoupment, counter-claim, set-off, suit in equity, and any other proceedings in which rights are determined, UCC S. 1-201(1).
Action is to be an ordinary proceeding in a court of justice, by which one party prosecutes another party for the enforcement or protection of a right, the redress or prevention of a wrong, or the punishment of a public offence. But in some sense this definition is equally applicable to special proceeding. More accurately, it is defined to be any judicial proceeding, which, if conducted to a determination, will result in a judgment or decree. The action is said to be terminate at judgment, 1 Morris M. Estate, Estate's Pleadings, Practice and Forms, sec. 3 at 1; Carter P. Pomoroy Ed., 3d Edn. 1885.
Action is the process of doing something, conduct or behaviour; A thing done, Black Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 28.