In law, sequestration is the act of removing, separating, or seizing anything from the possession of its owner under process of law for the benefit of creditors or the state.[1]

Etymology

The Latin sequestrare, to set aside or surrender, a late use, is derived from sequester, a depositary or trustee, one in whose hands a thing in dispute was placed until the dispute was settled; this was a term of Roman jurisprudence (cf. Digest L. 16,110). By derivation it must be connected with sequi, to follow; possibly the development in meaning may be follower, attendant, intermediary, hence trustee. In English "sequestered" means merely secluded, withdrawn.[1]

England

In law, the term "sequestration" has many applications; thus it is applied to the act of a belligerent power which seizes the debts due from its own subject to the enemy power; to a writ directed to persons, "sequestrators", to enter on the property of the defendant and seize the goods.[1]

Church of England

There are also two specific and slightly different usages in term of the Church of England; to the action of taking profits of a benefice to satisfy the creditors of the incumbent; to the action of ensuring church and parsonage premises are in good order in readiness for a new incumbent and the legal paperwork to ensure this.[1]

As the goods of the Church cannot be touched by a lay hand, the writ is issued to the bishop, and the bishop issues the sequestration order to the church wardens who collect the profits and satisfy the demand. Similarly when a benefice is vacant the church wardens take out sequestration under the seal of the Ordinary and manage the profits for the next incumbent.[1]

Scotland

In Scots law, bankruptcy is known as sequestration and sequestration allows a trustee-in-sequestration to take over a sequestrated individual's estate by order of the local Sheriff Court for the benefit of the creditors' unpaid debts.[1]

Assets Recovery Agency

The Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) was established in the United Kingdom under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to reduce crime by sequestering the proceeds of crime; its powers include civil recovery through the High Court.[2] The ARA was later merged with the Serious Organised Crime Agency.[3]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Sequestration" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
  2. ↑ "Part 5 of Proceeds of Crime Act 2002". Statute Law Database. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
  3. ↑ "Assets Recovery Agency abolished". BBC News. 11 January 2007. Retrieved 2010-12-10.

References

Wikisource has the text of the 1920 Encyclopedia Americana article Sequestration.
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