Title 12, Title 12: Court Procedure

§ 3333. Costs when plaintiff recovers in full When the plaintiff recovers final judgment for his or her whole debt or claim, he or she may have execution against such creditor for nominal damages and the costs that accrue in the cause after he or she so enters.

§ 3334. Costs when plaintiff recovers in part When such creditor defeats on trial a part of the plaintiff’s claim on the ground that it is fraudulent as against creditors, he or she shall have judgment and execution against the plaintiff for such costs accrued after entry by such…

§ 3351. Attachment, taking in execution, and sale Personal property not exempt from attachment, subject to a mortgage, pledge, or lien, may be attached, taken in execution, and sold as the property of the mortgagor, pledgor, or general owner, in the same manner as other personal …

§ 3352. Statement of secured debt The officer making such attachment or taking such property on execution may make a written demand of the mortgagee, pledgee, or the holder of such lien, for an account in writing, under oath, of the amount due upon the debt secured by such mortga…

§ 3353. Payment of debt if due When such debt is due at the time of rendering the account, the creditor so attaching or causing such property to be taken on execution may pay or tender, within 10 days after such account is rendered, the amount so rendered to the mortgagee, pledge…

§ 3354. Payment of debt becoming due before sale When such debt is not due at the time of rendering the account, but becomes due before the time fixed by the officer making such attachment or levy of execution for the sale of the property, within 10 days after the debt becomes du…

§ 3355. Payment of debt not due When such debt is not due at the time fixed by the officer for sale of the property, the creditor may offer to pay the debt to the mortgagee, pledgee, or holder of the lien. If such payment is accepted, the same proceedings may be had as provided i…

§ 3356. Subrogation of creditor by payment When such creditor pays or tenders such debt to the mortgagee, pledgee, or holder of such lien, as provided in sections 3353-3355 of this title, he or she shall be subrogated to all the rights of such mortgagee, pledgee, or holder, and m…

§ 3357. Sale of property subject to mortgage, pledge, or lien When the mortgagee, pledgee, or holder of a lien duly renders such account, whether or not the debt is due, the attaching creditor may cause the property to be sold subject to the mortgage, pledge, or lien, without fir…

§ 3358. Subrogation of purchaser When a mortgagor, pledgor, or conditional vendee of property sold on execution under the provisions of this subchapter fails or refuses to discharge such lien after it becomes due and payable, and within 10 days after written notice so to do is se…

§ 3359. Property subject to conditional sales contract—Attachment and execution If property, in pursuance of the terms of a conditional sales contract, has passed into the possession of the vendee and the purchase money or part thereof remains unpaid, a creditor of the vendee may…

§ 3360. Proceeds of sale The officer making such attachment or levy shall hold and dispose of such property like other personal property attached or levied upon, and from the proceeds of the sale thereof pay to the creditor the amount by him or her paid or tendered to the vendor …

§ 3361. Defense in action by vendor If the vendor refuses to receive the amounts so tendered him or her and brings an action on account of the attachment or levy, the tender shall constitute a defense. On proof thereof and payment of the money tendered into court, the defendant m…

§ 3362. Mortgagee taking possession; foreclosure of mortgage, pledge, or lien Sections 3351-3361 of this title shall not be construed so as to prevent or delay a mortgagee or a conditional vendor from taking possession of the secured property at any time for its necessary care an…

§ 3363. Property in hands of bailee—Taking of reversionary interest of lessor, bailor, pledgor, or other owner The reversionary title in personal property may be attached or levied upon as the property of the lessor, bailor, pledgor, or other person owning the same, subject to th…

§ 3364. Service of process on person holding property A valid lien on such property shall be created by delivering to the person so holding it a true and attested copy of the process upon which it is attached or levied, with the return of the officer thereon describing it, which …

§ 3365. Sale of reversionary interest The reversionary interest in the property may be sold at public sale, as personal property is required to be sold upon legal process, subject to the contract rights under which it is held.

§ 3401. Sale by consent of parties When goods or chattels are attached on mesne process in one or more actions and the debtor and attaching creditors consent in writing to a sale thereof, the attaching officer shall sell the same in the manner prescribed by law for selling like p…

§ 3402. Attachment after advertisement After the property is advertised for sale, a creditor shall not have a right to prevent such sale by attachment of the same. The property may be charged by attachment or execution put into the hands of the officer holding it, as if the same …

§ 3403. Perishable property—Notice of sale; appraisers (a) When an attachment is made of living animals or of perishable goods or chattels which are liable to waste or liable to deteriorate appreciably in value by keeping or which cannot be kept without great or disproportionate …

§ 3404. Duties of appraisers; sale The appraisers shall examine the attached property and, if the same or part thereof is liable to perish or waste or to be greatly reduced in value by keeping or cannot be kept without great and disproportionate expense, they shall appraise the s…

§ 3405. Return of sale When an attaching officer sells property pursuant to any of the preceding sections, within 30 days, he or she shall make a return of his or her sale and any action taken on the writ upon which the attachment was made and return the writ with his or her proc…

§ 3406. Delivery of property to defendant on giving security The property appraised and ordered sold under the provisions of this subchapter shall be delivered to the defendant, if he or she requires it, upon his or her depositing with the attaching officer the appraised value th…

§ 3407. Officer to account for appraised value Such officer shall be accountable to the attaching creditor for the appraised value only of the property so delivered to the debtor.

§ 3408. Sale after return of process After the process has been entered in court and before final judgment, personal property attached on mesne process may be sold or disposed of upon the same requests and in the same manner as provided for the sale or disposal of property so att…

§ 3409. Officer’s return When an officer sells property as provided in section 3408 of this title, he or she shall forthwith make return of his or her doings and sale to the clerk of the court or to the magistrate before whom the cause is pending. Such return shall be appended to…

§ 3410. Deposit or investment of proceeds When property is sold on mesne process returnable to the Superior Court under this subchapter, upon application of either party, the money realized from the sales shall be paid into court, and the clerk thereof shall invest or deposit suc…

§ 3471. Bail or recognizance as including surety bond The word “bail” or the word “recognizance” wherever used in connection with civil proceedings shall mean a good and sufficient surety bond, if one is furnished. (Amended 1967, No. 337 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. July 1, 1968.)

§ 3472. Surety bond in lieu of recognizance Whenever in any civil proceeding, surety by way of recognizance is required, the court or magistrate before whom such proceedings are pending may accept a good and sufficient surety bond in lieu of such recognizance. (Amended 1967, No. …

§ 3473. Insufficiency of recognizance or bail; order for new bail When it appears that the security or recognizance for the prosecution of a pending cause or an appeal or the bail taken by the officer on the writ, is insufficient to secure the party for whose benefit the same was…

§ 3474. Release of bail for misrepresentations, etc When it is made to appear to the court by a person who is bail for a party in a cause pending therein, that he or she was induced to enter bail by misrepresentations or by promise of indemnity which has not been performed, with …

§ 3476. Rights of bail—Bailpiece in bastardy proceedings When a surety recognizes before a Superior judge, for the appearance before the Superior Court of a person charged with being the father of a bastard child, the officer making the arrest upon the warrant shall deliver to su…

§ 3477. Warrant thereon Upon presentation of a bailpiece to a Superior judge, such magistrate shall issue to the surety a warrant directed to any sheriff or constable in the State, commanding him to assist such surety in apprehending the principal. (Amended 1965, No. 194, § 10, e…

§ 3478. Use of warrant When he has occasion to arrest the principal, a surety may use such warrant to surrender him in court in discharge of his bail on the original process or upon scire facias or to secure him until a term of the court in which he may be surrendered for that pu…

§ 3479. Commitment of principal The officer apprehending the principal may commit him to jail in the county in which he was arrested on the original process or in the county in which the process is pending, agreeably to the direction in the warrant. Such commitment shall be consi…

§ 3482. Principal delivered in bastardy proceedings A surety on the recognizance in a bastardy complaint may deliver the principal into court in discharge of his recognizance before the principal is adjudged to be the father of such bastard child and the court has made an order c…

§ 3483. Commitment of principal When the principal is delivered into court under section 3482 of this title, the court shall order him committed to jail, unless he enters into a recognizance before the court, with sufficient sureties, in the sum fixed by the order of the judge, c…

§ 3484. Surety may have warrant A surety in a recognizance taken by a Justice of the Supreme Court, a judge of a Superior Court, or a clerk of the Supreme or Superior Court, may make written application to the authority taking the recognizance for a warrant to apprehend the princ…

§ 3521. Imprisonment for debt abolished No person shall be arrested or imprisoned on mesne process. No person shall be arrested or imprisoned on an execution or by other means to enforce a judgment in any civil action for money damages. Notwithstanding the provisions herein, the …

§ 3571. Place of commitment When a person authorized to serve process is required by law to commit a person to jail, such commitment shall be in the county where the arrest is made, unless otherwise required by law. If there is not a legal jail in the county, the commitment shall…

§ 3572. Manner of commitment The officer committing a prisoner shall deliver him or her to the keeper of the jail, within the same, and give the keeper an attested copy of the process on which the commitment is made, with his or her return thereon.

§ 3574. Penalty for not delivering copy An officer who does not within six hours deliver a true copy of the warrant or process by which he or she detains a prisoner, to a person who demands such copy and tenders the fees therefor, shall forfeit to such prisoner $200.00, to be rec…

§ 3577. Privilege from arrest (a) The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, State Treasurer, Secretary of State, Auditor of Accounts, Attorney General, and members of the General Assembly and officers and witnesses whose duty it is to attend thereon, in all cases except treason, felony,…

§ 3578. Pleading privilege from arrest (a) When a person is privileged from arrest on execution so informs the officer at the time the arrest is made and claims his or her privilege, the giving of a jail bond shall not be deemed a waiver thereof but the facts shall be sufficient …

§ 3579. Detaining public carrier to make arrest; penalties (a) An officer who has a writ of execution or criminal process for the arrest of a person whom he or she has reason to believe is on a public carrier may notify the operator of the carrier thereof. The operator shall ther…

§ 3580. Escapes—Jailer to keep prisoner The keeper of a jail shall safely keep a prisoner committed to his or her custody until discharged from imprisonment.