Action
| Noun | 1. |  action - something done (usually as opposed to something said); "there were stories of murders and other unnatural actions" |
| 2. | action - the state of being active; "his sphere of activity"; "he is out of action" Synonyms: activeness, activity Antonyms: | |
| 3. | action - a judicial proceeding brought by one party against another; one party prosecutes another for a wrong done or for protection of a right or for prevention of a wrong Synonyms: action at law, legal action | |
| 4. | action - an act by a government body or supranational organization; "recent federal action undermined the segregationist position"; "the United Nations must have the power to propose and organize action without being hobbled by irrelevant issues"; "the Union action of emancipating Southern slaves" | |
| 5. |  action - a military engagement; "he saw action in Korea"Synonyms: military action | |
| 6. | action - a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings); "the action of natural forces"; "volcanic activity" | |
| 7. | action - the series of events that form a plot; "his novels always have a lot of action" | |
| 8. | action - the operating part that transmits power to a mechanism; "the piano had a very stiff action" Synonyms: action mechanism | |
| 9. | action - the trait of being active and energetic and forceful; "a man of action" | |
| 10. | action - the most important or interesting work or activity in a specific area or field; "the action is no longer in technology stocks but in municipal bonds"; "gawkers always try to get as close to the action as possible" | |
| Verb | 1. | action - institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against; "He was warned that the district attorney would process him"; "She actioned the company for discrimination" |
| 2. | action - put in effect; "carry out a task"; "execute the decision of the people"; "He actioned the operation" |
ACTION. Conduct, behaviour, something done. Nomen actionis latissime patere
vulgo notum est ac comprehenders omnem omnino viventis operationem quae
passioni opponitur. Vinnius, Com. lib. 4, tit. 6. De actionibus.
2. Human actions have been divided into necessary actions, or those over
which man has no control; and into free actions, or such as he can control
at his pleasure. As man is responsible only when he exerts his will, it is
clear lie can be punished only for the latter.
3. Actions are also divided into positives and negative the former is
called an act of commission the latter is the omission of something which
ought to be done, and is called an act of omission. A man may be responsible
as well for acts of omission, as for acts of commission.
4. Actions are voluntary and involuntary. The former are performed
freely and without constraint - the latter are performed not by choice,
against one's will or in a manner independent of the will. In general a man
is not responsible for his involuntary actions. Yet it has been ruled that
if a lunatic hurt a man, he shall be answerable in trespass, although, if he
kill a man, it is not felony. See Hob. Rep. 134; Popham, 162; Pam. N. P. 68.
See also Duress; Will.
ACTION, French com. law. Stock in a company, shares in a corporation.
ACTION, in practice. Actio nihil aliud est, quam jus persequendi in judicio
quod sibi debetur. Just. Inst. Lib. 4, tit. 6; Vinnius, Com. Actions are
divided into criminal and civil. Bac. Abr. Actions, A.
2.-1. A criminal action is a prosecution in a court of justice in
the name of the government, against one or more individuals accused of a
crime. See 1 Chitly's Cr. Law.
3.-2. A civil action is a legal demand of one's right, or it is the
form given by law for the recovery of that which is due. Co. Litt. 285; 3
Bl. Com. 116; 9 Bouv. Inst. n. 2639; Domat. Supp. des Lois Civiles, liv. 4,
tit. 1, No. 1; Poth. Introd. generale aux Coutumes, 109; 1 Sell. Pr. Introd.
s. 4, p. 73. Ersk. Princ. of Scot. Law, B. 41 t. 1. Sec. 1. Till judgment
the writ is properly called an action, but not after, and therefore, a
release of all actions is regularly no bar of all execution. Co. Litt. 289
a; Roll. Ab. 291. They are real, personal and mixed. An action is real or
personal, according as realty or personalty is recovered; not according to
the nature of the defence. Willes' Rep. 134.
4.-1. Real actions are those brought for the specific recovery of
lands, tenements, or hereditaments. Steph. Pl. 3. They are either
procedural, when the demandant seeks to recover the property; or possessory
when he endeavors to obtain the possession. Finch's Law, 257, 8. See Bac.
Abr. Actions, A, contra. Real Actions are, 1st. Writs of right; 2dly, Writs
of entry, which lie in the per, the per et cui, or the post, upon disseisin,
intrusion, or alienation. 3dly. Writs ancestral possessory, as Mort d'
ancester, aid, vbesaiel[?], cosinage, or Nuper obiit. Com. Dig. Actions, D
2. By these actions formerly all disputes concerning real estate, were
decided; but now they are pretty generally laid aside in practice, upon
account of the great nicety required in their management, and the
inconvenient length of their process; a much more expeditious, method of
trying titles being since introduced by other actions, personal and mixed. 3
Bl. Com. 118. See Booth on Real Actions.
5.-2. Personal actions are those brought for the specific recovery of
goods and chattels; or for damages or other redress for breach of contract,
or other injuries, of whatever description; the specific recovery of lands,
tenements, and hereditaments only excepted. Steph. Pl. 3; Com. Dig. Actions,
D 3; 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 2641. Personal actions arise either upon contracts, or
for wrongs independently of contracts. The former are account, assumpsit,
covenant, debt, and detinue; see these words. In Connecticut and Vermont
there is, an action used which is peculiar to those states, called the
action of book debt. 2 Swift's Syst. Ch. 15. The actions for wrongs,
injuries, or torts, are trespass on the case, replevin, trespass, trover.
See these words, and see Actio personalis moritur cum persona.
6.-3. Mixed actions are such as appertain, in some degree, to both
the former classes, and, therefore, are properly reducible to neither of
them, being brought for the specific recovery of lands, tenements, or
hereditaments, and for damages for injury sustained in respect of such
property. Steph. Pl. 3; Co. Litt. 284, b; Com. Dig. Actions, D 4. Every
mixed action, properly so called, is also a real action. The action of
ejectment is a personal action, and formerly, a count for an assault and
battery might be joined with a count for the recovery of a term of Years in
land.
7. Actions are also divided into those which are local and such as are
transitory.
1. A local action is one in which the venue must still be laid in
the county, in which the cause of action actually arose. The locality of
actions is founded in some cases, on common law principles, in others on the
statute law.
8. Of those which continue local, by the common law, are, 1st, all
actions in which the subject or thing to be recovered is in its nature
local. Of this class are real actions, actions of waste, when brought on
the statute of Gloucester, (6 Edw. I.) to recover with the damages, the
locus in quo or place wasted; and actions of ejectment. Bac. Abr. Actions
Local, &c. A, a; Com. Dig. Actions, N 1; 7 Co. 2 b; 2 Bl. Rep. 1070. All
these are local, because they are brought to recover the seisin or
possession of lands or tenements, which are local subjects.
9.-2dly. Various actions which do not seek the direct recovery of
lands or tenements, are also local, by the common law; because they arise
out of some local subject, or the violation of some local right or interest.
ACTION, PROHIBITORY, civil law. An action instituted to avoid a sale on account of some Vice or defect in the thing sold which readers it either absolutely useless, or its use so inconvenient and, imperfect, that it must be, supposed the buyer would not have purchased it, had he known of the vice. Civ. Code of Louis. art. 2496.
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