Lat. Form; the prescribed form of judicial proceedings. Forma et figure judlcii. The form and shape of Judgment or judicial action. 3 Bl. Comm. 271. Forma pauperis. See IN FORMA PAUPERIS.
Forma dat esse. Form gives being. Called “the old physical maxim.” Lord Henley, Ch., 2 Eden, 99.
Forma legal is forma ossontialis. Legal form is essential form. 10 Coke, 100.
Forma non observsta, infertur adnnl latio actus. Where form is not observed, a nullity of the act is inferred. 12 Coke, 7. Where the law prescribes a form, the non-observance of it is fatal to the proceeding, and the whole becomes a nullity. Beat, Ev. Introd.