ACCOUNT, or ACCOUNT RENDER

In practice. “Account,” sometimes called “account render,” was a form of action at common law against a person who by reason of some fiduciary relation (as guardian, bailiff, receiver, etc.) was bound to render an account to another, but refused to do so. Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 116; Co. Litt. 172; Griffith v. Willing, 3 Bin. (Pa.) 317; Travers v. Dyer, 24 Fed. Oas. 142; Stevens v. Coburn, 71 Vt 261, 44 Atl. 354; Portsmouth v. Donaldson, 32 Pa. 202, 72 Am. Dec. 782. In England, this action early fell into disuse; and as it is one of the most dilatory and expensive actions known to the law, and the parties are held to the ancient rules of pleading, and no discovery can be obtained, it never was adopted to any great extent in the United States. But in some states this action was employed, chiefly because there were no chancery eourts in which a bill for an accounting would lie. The action is peculiar in the fact that two judgments are rendered, a preliminary judgment that the defendant do account with the plaintiff (quod computet) and a final judgment (quod recuperet) after the accounting for the balance found due. Field v. Brown, 146 Ind. 293, 45 N. E. 464; Travers v. Dyer, 24 Fed. Cas. 142.