Elegit - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition elegit

Definition :

Elegit (he has chosen), a judicial writ of execution founded on the statute of Westminster II. (13 Edw. 1, c. 18), by which it became, in the election of a party having recovered judgment, either to have a writ of fieri facias (see that title) or else to seize all the chattels and half the land of the judgment debtor in specie until judgment satisfied.

The writ of elegit was extended by the (English) Judgments Act,1838 (1 & 2 Vict. c. 110), to all the debtor's lands instead of a moiety as before, and also to his copyhold lands; but it does not now extend to good. [(English) Bankruptcy Act, 1883, s. 146]

After the writ has been returned and filed, the creditor becomes tenant by elegit; the legal estate vests in him, and he can bring ejectment or sue for the rent if the estate is in reversion, Hatton v. Haywood, (1874) LR 9 Ch 236. See R.S.C., Ord. XLIII. The writ will not affect the legal estate against a purchaser unless it is registered and re-registered every five years at the (English) Land Registry (Land Charges Act, 1925, ss. 6 and 7). See s. 23, ibid., in regard to registered land; see also ss. 59 and 61 of (English) the Land Registration Act, 1925; Edwards on Execution.