Legal Definitions - writ of levari facias

A writ of levari facias is a historical type of court order that directed a sheriff or other authorized officer to collect a judgment debt. This was accomplished by seizing the debtor's movable personal property (their "goods") and by taking the rents, profits, or other income generated from their land, rather than selling the land itself. It was a method for a creditor to recover money owed to them, primarily by levying on the income stream from property.

• Example 1: Collecting Unpaid Rent and Farm Profits
  Imagine a tenant who owes several months of back rent to their landlord, and the landlord obtains a court judgment for the unpaid amount. If the tenant also owned a small farm on the property that generated income, a writ of levari facias could have been issued. This would allow the sheriff to seize the tenant's farm equipment (their "goods") and to collect the profits from the farm's harvest (income from their land) to satisfy the judgment for the unpaid rent. This illustrates the seizure of both personal property and income from land.
• Example 2: Recovering a Business Loan from Property Income
  Consider a small business owner who defaulted on a loan from a supplier, and the supplier successfully obtained a court judgment for the outstanding debt. The business owner also owned a separate commercial building that generated rental income from other tenants. A writ of levari facias would have empowered the sheriff to seize the business owner's inventory and office equipment (their "goods") and to collect the rental payments directly from the commercial property's tenants (profits from their land) until the debt was fully paid.
• Example 3: Historical Tax Collection
  In an older legal system, if a citizen failed to pay their property taxes, the government might have obtained a court order for the outstanding amount. A writ of levari facias could then be issued, directing an official to seize valuable items from the citizen's home (their "goods") and to collect any rents or other income derived from a separate piece of land they owned, all to cover the outstanding tax debt. This demonstrates the application of the writ for public debt collection by taking both movable assets and land-generated income.