New York State Supreme Court of Judicature Registers of Returns of Writs

Alphabetic by county, then chronological by court term, then (in some volumes) alphabetical by name of attorney.

This fragmentary series consists of registers of returns of writs issued by the court and returned by sheriffs to circuit courts in various upstate counties. The returns are for writs of capias ad respondendum, by which defendants were arrested and held for appearance in court; for writs of summons, by which corporations were summoned to appear; and for the various writs of execution issued subsequent to a final judgment (the writs of fieri facias, capias ad satisfaciendum, and habere facias possessionem).

Each entry in these books gives the names of the parties to the cause, the abbreviated name of the writ (caps., fi. fa., sci. fa., ca. sa., etc.), the name of the attorney to whom the writ was issued, and how the writ was returned. The writ of capias ad respondendum was returned either served, or defendant not found (cepi corpus, "I took the body," or non est inventus, "he is not found"). The writ of fieri facias (fi. fa.) was usually returned with the sheriff's endorsement that nulla bona, "no-goods," were found on which to levy a judgment; occasionally the writ was returned satisfied. The writ of capias ad satisfaciendum (ca. sa.) was returned body taken into custody or not found. The writ of scire facias (a show cause order) was usually returned with the endorsement scire feci, "I made (him) to know." Other writs were executed according to the order to the sheriff.

Counties represented for various date spans are Albany, Columbia, Delaware, Jefferson, Oneida, Oswego, Otsego, Rensselaer, Tioga, Wayne, and Yates. Registers for other counties have not survived.

J0153J0153, New York State Supreme Court of Judicature (Albany) Registers of Returns of Writs and

J1153Series J1153, New York State Supreme Court of Judicature (Albany) Registers of Returns of Writs of Execution, contain entries overlapping with those in Series J0226.

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