DEFORCE

deforce,vb.1. To keep (lands) from the true owner by means of force. 2. To oust another from

possession  by  means  of  force.  3.  To  detain  (a  creditor’s  money)  unjustly  and  forcibly.  —

deforciant,n.

“The  character  of  the  action  of  debt is  well illustrated  by  the  form  of  the  writ as  given  by

Glanville. It  directs the  sheriff  to  order  the  debtor  to  render  a  stated  sum  which  he  owes to  the

plaintiff, ‘and whereof the plaintiff complains that the defendant unjustly deforces him,’ and, if he

will not obey, he is to be summoned before the King’s Court. The plaintiff is ‘deforced’ of money

just as in a writ of right he is ‘deforced’ of land. It is true that the term ‘deforces’ disappeared from

the writ shortly after Glanville’s time, the word debet taking its place; but this seems to have been

a matter of form, not of substance. The plaintiff sought to recover the money due as his property.”

William F. Walsh, Outlines of the History of English and American Law 411 (1924). [Blacks Law 8th]