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RULES OF PRACTICE, &c.

PRELIMINARY REGULATIONS.

I.

THE Circuit Courts, as Courts of Equity, shall be deemed always open for the purpose of filing bills, answers and other pleadings, for issuing and returning mesne and final process and commissions, and for making and directing all interlocutory motions, orders, rules and other proceedings, preparatory to the hearing of all causes upon their merits.

II.

The clerk's office shall be open, and the clerk shall be in attendance therein on the first Monday of every month, for the purpose of receiving, entering, entertaining and disposing of all motions, rules, orders and other proceedings, which are grantable of course and applied for, or had by the parties, or their solicitors in all causes pending in equity, in pursuance of the rules hereby prescribed.

III.

Any Judge of the Circuit Court, as well in vacation as in term, may, at chambers, or on the rule days, at the clerk's office, make and direct all such interlocutory orders, rules and other proceedings, preparatory to the hearing of all causes upon their merits, in the same manner and with the same effect as the Circuit Court could make and direct the same in term, reasonable notice of the

application therefor being first given to the adverse party, or his solicitor, to appear and show cause to the contrary at the next rule day thereafter, unless some other time is assigned by the judge for the hearing.

IV.

All motions, rules, orders and other proceedings made and directed at chambers, or on rule days at the clerk's office, whether special or of course, shall be entered by the clerk in an order book, to be kept at the clerk's office on the day when they are made and directed-which book shall be open at all office hours, to the free inspection of the parties in any suit in equity, and their solicitors. And except in cases where personal or other notice is specially required or directed', such entry in the order book shall be deemed sufficient notice to the parties and their solicitors, without further service thereof, of all orders, rules, acts, notices and other proceedings entered in such order book, touching any and all the matters in the suits, to and in which they are parties and solicitors. And notice to the solicitors shall be deemed notice to the parties for whom they appear and whom they represent, in all cases where personal notice on the parties is not otherwise specially required. Where the solicitors for all the parties in a suit reside in or near the same town or city, the Judges of the Circuit Court may, by rule, abridge the time for notice of rules, orders or other proceedings, not requiring personal service on the parties, in their discretion.

V.

All motions and applications in the clerk's office for the issuing of mesne process and final process to enforce and execute decrees, for filing bills, answers, pleas, demurrers and other pleadings; for making amendments to bills and answers; for taking bills pro confesso; for filing exceptions, and for other proceedings in the clerk's office, which do not, by the rules hereinafter prescribed, require an allowance or order of the court, or of any judge thereof, shall be deerned motions and applications, grantable of course by the clerk of the court. But the same may be suspended, or

altered, or rescinded by any judge of the court, upon special cause shown.

VI.

All motions for rules or orders and other proceedings, which are not grantable of course, or without notice, shall, unless a different time be assigned by a judge of the court, be made on a rule day, and entered in the order book, and shall be heard at the rule day next after that on which the motion is made. And if the adverse party, or his solicitor, shall not then appear, or shall not show good cause against the same, the motion may be heard by any judge of the court ex parte, and granted, as if not objected to, or refused, in his discretion.

PROCESS.
VII.

The process of subpoena shall constitute the proper mesne process in all suits in equity, in the first instance, to require the defendant to appear and answer the exigency of the bill; and unless otherwise provided in these rules, or specially ordered by the Circuit Court, a writ of attachment, and if the defendant cannot be found, a writ of sequestration, or a writ of assistance to enforce a delivery of possession, as the case may require, shall be the proper process to issue for the purpose of compelling obedence to any interlocutory or final order or decree of the court.

VIII.

Final process to execute any decree may, if the decree be solely for the payment of money, be by a writ of execution, in the form used in the Circuit Court in suits at common law in actions of assumpsit. If the decree be for the performance of any specific act, as, for example, for the execution of a conveyance of land, or the delivering up of deeds, or other documents, the decree shall, in all cases, prescribe the time within which the act shall be done, of which the defendant shall be bound without further service to take notice; and upon affidavit of the plaintiff, filed in the clerk's office, that the same has not been complied with within

the prescribed time, the clerk shall issue a writ of attachment against the delinquent party, from which, if attached thereon, he shall not be discharged, unless upon a full compliance with the decree and the payment of all costs, or upon a special order of the court or of a judge thereof, upon motion and affidavit, enlarging the time for the performance thereof. If the delinquent party cannot be found, a writ of sequestration shall issue against his estate upon the return of non est inventus, to compel obedience to the decree.

IX.

When any decree or order is for the delivery of possession, upon proof made by affidavit of a demand and refusal to obey the decree or order, the party prosecuting the same shall be entitled to a writ of assistance from the clerk of the court..

X.

Every person, not being a party in any cause, who has obtained an order, or in whose favour an order shall have been made, shall be enabled to enforce obedience to such order by the same process, as if he were a party to the cause; and every person, not being a party in any cause, against whom obedience to any order of the court may be enforced, shall be liable to the same process for enforcing obedience to such order, as if he were a party in the cause.

SERVICE OF PROCESS.
XI.

No process of subpoena shall issue from the clerk's office in any suit in equity, until the bill is filed in the office.

XII.

Whenever a bill is filed, the clerk shall issue the process of subpoena thercon, as of course, upon the application of the plaintiff, which shall be returnable into the clerk's office the next rule day, or the next rule day but one, at the election of the

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