FORM OF ACTION

form of action.The common-law legal and procedural device associated with a particular writ,

each of which had specific forms of process, pleading, trial, and judgment. • The 11 common-law

forms of action were trespass, trespass on the case, trover, ejectment, detinue, replevin, debt,

covenant, account, special assumpsit, and general assumpsit. [Cases: Action 29; Federal Civil

Procedure 71. C.J.S. Actions §§ 74–77.]

“Forms of action are usually regarded as different methods of procedure adapted to cases of

different kinds, but in fact the choice between forms of action is primarily a choice between

different theories of substantive liability, and the scope of the actions measures the existence and

extent of liability at common law…. The development and extension of the different forms of

action is the history of the recognition of rights and liability in the law of torts, contracts, and

property, and the essentials of rights of action.” Benjamin J. Shipman, Handbook of

Common-Law Pleading §§ 27, 30, at 54, 60 (Henry Winthrop Ballantine ed., 3d ed. 1923).[Blacks Law 8th]