Extent - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition extent

Definition :

Extent, the peculiar remedy to recover debts of record due to the Crown; it differs from an ordinary writ of execution at the suit of a subject, because under it the body, lands, and goods of the debtor may all be taken at once, in order to compel the payment of the debt. It is not usual, however, to seize the body.

There are two kinds of Extent--in chief and in aid. (1) Extent in chief. It issues from the Exchequer, and may bear teste and be made returnable on any day certain in term of vacation (5 & 6 Vict. c. 86, s. 8). It directs the sheriff to take an inquisition or inquest of office, on the oaths of lawful men, to ascertain the lands, etc., of the debtor, and seize the same into the King's hands. The writ should be preceded by a cire facias in order to bring the debtor into Court, and afford him an opportunity to show cause against it; but where the debt is in danger of being lost, the extent will be issued without a scire facias upon an affidavit of circumstances; and after the sheriff's return, the debtor, if he dispute the debt, or a third person, if he claim the property set forth in the inquisition, may enter an appearance and plead to the extent; issue is then joined, and it is decided either on demurrer or by a trial before a jury. If judgment be given for the Crown, it is that the subject take nothing by his traverse or plea; if given for the defendant or claimant, it is an award of amoveas manus. Error will lie upon the judgment provided the Attorney-General consent to the proceeding. Where there was no judgment it was the rule to issue a commission to ascertain what debt was due to the Crown; but by the (English) Crown Suits Act, 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. 104), s. 47, a commission to find a debt due to the Crowns hall not be necessary for authorizing the issue of an immediate extent or of a writ of diem clausit extremum, and an immediate extent may be issued on an affidavit of debt and danger, and a writ of diem clausit extremum may be issued on an affidavit of debt and death, and on a fiat, as hereby provided. It was enacted by the (English) Judgments Act, 1839 (2 & 3 Vict. c. 11), that no debt due to the Crown on Judgment, statute or recognizance, inquisition of debt, obligation, or specialty, or acceptance of office, shall affect any lands, tenements, or hereditaments as to pur-chasers or mortgagees, unless and until such memorandum or minute thereof, as in the Act provided, shall be registered as is therein provided; and provision is made in regard to the registration of a quietus for any Crown debt, and for Treasury certificates being granted exonerating lands from any further claim of the Crown. By the (English) Crown Suits Act, 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. 104), s. 48, it was provided that any Crown judgment, etc., or specialty, shall not affect any land, as to a bona fide purchaser for valuable consideration, or as to a mortgagee (with or without notice of such judgment, etc.), unless a writ of extent, or of diem clausit extremum, or other writ or process of execution, has been issued and registered before the execution of the conveyance or mortgage; See now (English) Land Charges Act, 1925, s. 6, and LAND CHARGES. There is also an extent in chief in the second degree, which is a proceeding by the Crown against the debtor of a crown-debtor, against whom also an extent in chief has issued.

(2) Extent in aid. It issues, not at the suit of the Crown, like an extent in chief, but at the suit of the Crown-debtor against a person indebted to himself; and it is grounded on the Statute of Extent (33 Hen. 4, c. 39), and on the principle that the Crown is entitled to the debts due to the debtor. The practice is governed by the (English) Extents in Aid Act, 1817 (57 Geo. 3, c. 117), and by a rule of the Court of Exchequer, June 22, 1822, that the Crown-debtor must make oath that otherwise the debt will be lost; see R. v. Pridgeon, (1910) 2 KB 543.

There is a special writ of extent, which is issued in the event of the death of a Crown-debtor, and is called a diem clausit extremum, because it recites the death of the party. The sheriff is commanded to inquire, by a jury, concerning the chattels and lands of the deceased debtor, and seize them into the Crown's hands.

See generally the cases in Mew's Digest, tit. 'Crown (Execution by Extent)'; West on Extents; Robertson on the Crown, ch. iii.