DE PROPRIETATE PROBANDA

de           proprietate           probanda           (dee           pr<<schwa>>-prI-<<schwa>>-tay-tee

pr<<schwa>>-ban-d<<schwa>>),  n.[Law  Latin  “for  proving  property”]  Hist.  A  writ  ordering  a

sheriff  to  investigate  the  ownership  of  distrained  goods  claimed  by  a  defendant  in  a  replevin

“If therefore the distreinor claims any such property, the party replevying must sue out a writ

de  proprietate  probanda,  in  which  the  sheriff  is  to  try,  by  an  inquest,  in  whom  the  property

previous to the distress subsisted. And if it be found to be in the distreinor, the sheriff can proceed

no farther; but must return the claim of property to the court of king’s bench or common pleas, to

be  there  farther  prosecuted,  if  thought  advisable,  and  there  finally  determined.”  3  William

Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 148 (1768). [Blacks Law 8th]