ACTIO

Latin: In the civil law. An action or suit; a right or cause of action. It should be noted that this term means both the proceeding to enforce a right in a court and the right itself which is sought to be enforced. Actio ad exhibendum. An action for the purpose of compelling a defendant to exhibit a thing or title in his power. It was preparatory to another action, which was always a real action in the sense of the Roman law; that is, for the recovery of a thing, whether it was movable or immovable. Merl. Quest, tome i. 84. Actio cestimatoria; actio quanti minoris. Two names of an action which lay in behalf of a buyer to reduce the contract price, not to cancel the sale; the judex had power, however, to cancel the sale. Hunter, Rom Law, 332. Actio arbitraria. Action depending on the discretion of the judge. In this, unless the defendant would make amends to the plaintiff as dictated by the judge in his discretion, he was liable to be condemned. Id. 825. Actio bonse fidei. A class of actions in which the judge might at the trial, ex officio, take into account any equitable circumstances that were presented to him affecting either of the parties to the action. 1 Spence, Eq. Jur. 218Actio calumnise. An action to restrain the defendant from prosecuting a groundless proceeding or trumped up charge against the plaintiff. Hunter, Rom. Law, 859. Actio commodati. Included several actions appropriate to enforce the obligations of a borrower or a lender. Id. 305. Actio commodati contraria. An action by the borrower against the lender, to compel the execution of the contract. Poth. PrSt a Usage, n. 75. Actio commodati directa. An action by a lender against a borrower, the principal object of which is to obtain a restitution of the thing lent. Poth. Pret a Usage, nn. 65, 68. Actio communi dividundo. An action to procure a judicial division of joint property. Hunter, Rom. Law, 194. It was analogous in its object to proceedings for partition in modern law. Actio condictio indebitati. An action by which the plaintiff recovers the amount of a sum of money or other thing he paid by mistake. Poth. Promutuum, n. 140; Merl. Repert. Actio confessoria. An affirmative petitory action for the recognition and enforcement of a servitude. So called because based on the plaintiff’s affirmative allegation. of a right in defendant’s land. Distinguished from an actio negatoria, which was brought to repel a claim of the defendant to a servitude in the plaintiff’s land. Mackeld. Rom. Law,