DECIES TANTUM

decies  tantum  (desh-ee-eez  ordee-shee-eez  tan-t<<schwa>>m),  n.[Law  Latin  “ten  times  as

much”] Hist. A writ ordering a juror who accepted a bribe for a verdict to pay ten times the bribery

amount, half to the suing party and half to the Crown.

“Decies tantum is a writ that lies where a juror in any inquest takes money of the one part or

other, to give his verdict; then he shall pay ten times as much as he hath received: and every one

that will sue may have this action, and shall have the one half, and the king the other …. And the

same law is of all other actions popular, where one part is to the king, the other to the party that

sues. Also the embracers, who procure such inquests, shall be punished in the same manner, and

they shall have imprisonment a year. But no justice shall inquire thereof ex officio, but only at the

suit of the party.” Termes de la Ley 146 (1st Am. ed. 1812). [Blacks Law 8th]