FIERI FACIAS

fieri facias (fI-<<schwa>>-rIfay-shee-<<schwa>>s). [Latin “that you cause to be done”] A

writ of execution that directs a marshal or sheriff to seize and sell a defendant’s property to satisfy

a money judgment. — Abbr. fi. fa.; Fi. Fa. Cf. LEVARI FACIAS. [Cases: Execution 1, 15. C.J.S.

Executions §§ 2, 15, 18.]

“It receives its name from the Latin words in the writ (quod fieri facias de bonis et catallis,

that you cause to be made of the goods and chattels). It is the form of execution in common use in

levying upon the judgment-debtor’s personal property.” John Bouvier, Bouvier’s Law Dictionary

(8th ed. 1914).

“The writ of ‘fieri facias’ (commonly called a writ of ‘fi fa’), which commanded literally ‘that

you cause to be made,’ was an early common-law means of enforcing payment on a judgment; it

was, in effect, an order to the sheriff of the court to enforce a judgment against the debtor by levy,

seizure, and sale of his personalty to the extent needed to satisfy a judgment.” 30 Am. Jur. 2d

Executions and Enforcement of Judgments § 14, at 50–51 (1994).

fieri facias de bonis ecclesiasticis (fI-<<schwa>>-rIfay-shee-<<schwa>>s dee boh-nis

e-klee-z[h]ee-as-t<<schwa>>-sis). [Latin “that you cause to be made of the ecclesiastical goods”]

Hist. A writ of execution — used when the defendant was a beneficed clerk who had no lay fee —

that commanded the bishop to satisfy the judgment from the ecclesiastical goods and chattels of

the defendant within the diocese. • This was accomplished by issuing a sequestration to levy the

debt out of the defendant’s benefice. This writ was issued after a fieri facias had been returned

nulla bona. fieri facias de bonis propriis (fI-<<schwa>>-rIfay-shee-<<schwa>>s dee boh-nis

proh-pree-is). [Latin “that you cause to be made of his own goods”] Hist. A writ that executes on

an executor’s property when a writ fieri facias de bonis testatoris is returned by the sheriff nulla

bona or devastavit (a wasting of the testator’s goods by the executor).

fieri facias de bonis testatoris (fI-<<schwa>>-rIfay-shee-<<schwa>>s dee boh-nis

tes-t<<schwa>>-tor-is). [Latin “that you cause to be made of the testator’s goods”] Hist. A writ of

execution served on an executor for a debt incurred by the testator.[Blacks Law 8th]