(A) practice. So denominated because it proceeds or issues forth in order to bring the defendant into court, to answer the charge preferred against him, and signifies the writ or judicial means by which he is brought to answer. 1 Paine, R. 368 Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t. 2. In the English law, process in civil causes is called original process, when it is founded upon the original writ; and also to distinguish it from mesne or intermediate process, which issues pending the suit, upon some collateral interlocutory matter, as, to summon juries, witnesses,, and the like; mesne process is also sometimes put in contradistinction to final process, or process of execution; and then it signifies all process which intervenes between the beginning and end of a suit. 3 Bl. Com. 279. 3. In criminal cases that proceeding which is called a warrant, before the finding of the bill, is termed process when issued after the indictment has been found by the jury. 4. The word process in the 12th section of the 5th article of the constitution of Pennsylvania, which provides that the style of all process shall be The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, was intended to refer to such writs only as should become necessary to be issued in the course of the exercise of that judicial power which is established and provided for in the article of the constitution, and forms exclusively the subject matter of it. 3 Penns. R. 99. (B) rights. The means or method of accomplishing a thing. 2. It has been said that the word manufacture, in the patent laws, may, perhaps, extend to a new process, to be carried on by known implements, or elements, acting upon known substances, and ultimately producing some other known substance, but producing it in a cheaper or more expeditious manner, or of a better and more useful kind.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
In practice. This word is generally defined to be the means of compelling the defendant in an action to appear in court. And when actions were commenced by original writ, instead of, as at present, by writ of summons, the method of compelling the defendant to appear was by what was termed “original process,” being founded on the original writ, and so called also to distinguish it from “mesne” or “intermediate” process, which was some writ or process which issued during the progress of the suit The word “process,” however, as now commonly understood, signifies those formal instruments called “writs.” The word “process” is in common law practice frequently applied to the writ of summons, which is the instrument now in use for commencing personal actions. But in its more comprehensive signification it includes not only the writ of summons, but all other writs which may be Issued during the progress of an action. Those writs which are used to carry the judgments of the courts into effect, and which are termed “writs of execution” are also commonly denominated “final process,” because they usually issue at the end of a suit See Carey v. German American Ins. Co., 84 Wis. 80, 54 N. W. 18, 20 L. R. A. 267, 36 Am. St. Rep. 907; Savage v. Oliver, 110 Ga. 636, 36 S. E. 54; Perry v. Lorillard Fire Ins. Co., 6 Lans. (N. Y.) 204; Davenport v. Bird, 34 Iowa, 527; Philadelphia v. Campbell, 11 Phila. (Pa.) 164; Phillips v. Spotts, 14 Neb. 139, 15 N. W. 332. In the practice of the English privy council in ecclesiastical appeals, “process” means an official copy of the whole proceedings and proofs of the court below, which is transmitted to the registry of the court of appeal by the registrar of the court below in obedience to an order or requisition requiring him so to do, called a “monition for process,” issued by the court of appeal. Macph. Jud. Com. 173. Abuse of process. See ABUSE. Compulsory process. See Compulsoby. Executory process. In the law of Louisiana, a summary process in the nature of an order of seizure and bale, which is available when the right of the creditor arises from an act or instrument which includes or imports a confession of judgment and a privilege or lien in his favor, and also to enforce the execution of a judgment rendered ‘in another jurisdiction. See Rev. Code Prac. 1894, art. 732. Final process. The last process in a suit; that is, writs of execution. Thus distinguished from mesne process, which includes all writs issued during the progress of a cause and before final judgment. Amis v. Smith, 16 Pet 313, 10 L. Ed. 973. Irregular process. Sometimes the term “irregular process” has been defined to mean process absolutely void, and not merely erroneous and voidable; but usually it has been applied to all process not issued in strict conformity with the law, whether the defect appears upon the face of the process, or by reference to extrinsic facts, and whether such defects render the process absolutely void or only voidable. Cooper v. Harter, 2 lnd. 253. And see Bryan v. Congdon, 86 Fed. 221, 29 C. C. A. 670: Paine v. Ely, N. Chip. (Vt.) 24. Judicial process. In a wide sense, this term may include all the acts of a court from the beginning to the end of its proceedings in a given cause; but more specifically it means the> writ, summons, mandate, or other process which is used to inform the defendant of the institution of proceedings against him and to compel his appearance, in either civil or criminal cases. See State v. Guilbert, 56 Ohio St. 575, 47 N. E. 551, 38 L R. A. 519, 60 Am. St. Rep. 756; In re Smith (D. C.) 132 Fed. 303. Legal process. This term is sometimes used as equivalent to “lawful process.” Cooley v. Davis, 34 Iowa, 130. But properly it means a writ, warrant, mandate, or other process issuing from a court of justice, such as an attachment, execution, injunction, etc. See In re Bminger, 3 Fed. Cas. 416; Loy v. Home Ins. Co, 24 Minn. 319, 31 Am. Rep. 346; Perry V. Lorillard F. Ins. Co., 6 Lans. (N. Y.) 204; Com. v. Brower, 7 Pa. Dist. R. 255. Mesne process. As distinguished from final process, this signifies any writ or process issued between the commencement of the action and the suing out of execution. It includes the writ of summons, (although that is now the usual commencement of actions,) because anciently that was preceded by the original writ. The writ of capias ad respondendum was called “mesne” to distinguish it, on the one hand, from the original process by which a suit was formerly commenced; and, on the other, from the final process of execution. Birmingham Dry Goods Co. v. Bledsoe, 113 Ala. 418, 21 South. 403; Hirshiser v. Tinsley, 9 Mo. App. 342; Pennington v. Lowinstein, 19 Fed. Cas. 168. Original process. That by which a judicial proceeding is instituted; process to compel the appearance of the defendant. Distinguished from “mesne” process, which issues, during the progress of a suit, for some subordinate or collateral purpose; and from “final” process, which is process of execution. Appeal of Hotchkiss, 32 Conn. 353. Process of interpleader. A means of determining the right to property claimed by each of two or more persons, which is in the possession, of a third. Process of law. See Due Process OF Law. Process roll. In practice. A roll used for the entry of process to save the statute of limitations. 1 Tidd, Pr. 161, 162 Regular process. Such as is issued according to rule and the prescribed practice, or which emanates, lawfully and in a proper case, from a court or magistrate possessing jurisdiction. Summary process. Such as is immediate or instantaneous, in distinction from the ordinary course, by emanating and taking effect without intermediate applications or delays. Gaines v. Travis, 8 N. Y. Leg. Obs. 49. Trustee process. The name given in some states (particularly in New England) to the process of garnishment or foreign attachmentVoid process. Such as was issued without power in the court to award it, or which the court had not acquired jurisdiction to issue in the particular case, or which fails in some material respect to comply with the requisite form of legal process. Bryan v. Congdon, 86 Fed. 223, 29 C C. A. 670. In patent law. A means or method employed to produce a certain result or effect, or a mode of treatment of given materials to produce a desired result, either by chemical action, by the operation or application of some element or power of nature, or of one substance to another, irrespective of any machine or mechanical device; in this sense a “process” is patentable, though, strictly speaking, it is the art and not the process which is the subject of patent. Mechanical process. A process involving solely the application of mechanism or mechanical principles; an aggregation of functions; not patentable’considered apart from the mechanism employed or the finished product of manufacture.