Action on Debt
$125.00
⚖️ Action of Debt — Common Law Remedies for Fixed Obligations
Course Type: Legal Foundations
🧭 Course Overview
This class provides a structured study of the common-law action of debt—a foundational legal remedy for recovering sums certain or obligations readily reducible to certainty. Students examine the action’s procedural elements, pleading rules, defenses, and enduring relevance in modern commercial and statutory claims.
The course situates “debt” as both a legal concept and procedural form, showing how historical remedies inform today’s enforcement of monetary obligations, statutory penalties, and judgments.
🎓 Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Define and distinguish “debt” within its common-law meaning and differentiate it from unliquidated claims or damages.
- Identify the essential elements of an action of debt, including the requirement of a sum certain and the obligation’s enforceability in money.
- Analyze pleadings and defenses—such as nil debet, non est factum, and nul tiel record—and apply them to case examples.
- Trace procedural evolution from medieval common law to modern civil practice under state codes and procedural acts.
- Evaluate judgment and recovery mechanisms, including damages for detention, interest awards, and statutory debt enforcement.
- Compare debt and assumpsit actions to understand concurrent remedies and the shift from form to substance in contract litigation.
🧩 Topics Covered
- Definition and nature of “debt”
- Scope and concurrent actions
- Elements and certainty of sum
- Pleadings and declarations
- Common defenses and pleas
- Proof, trial, and judgment standards
- Amount recoverable and award of interest
📚 Format
- Delivery: Lecture-based with discussion on case law excerpts and procedural forms
- Duration: 10 small classes | Self-paced study
Description
⚖️ Action of Debt — Common Law Remedies for Fixed Obligations
Course Type: Legal Foundations
🧭 Course Overview
This class provides a structured study of the common-law action of debt—a foundational legal remedy for recovering sums certain or obligations readily reducible to certainty. Students examine the action’s procedural elements, pleading rules, defenses, and enduring relevance in modern commercial and statutory claims.
The course situates “debt” as both a legal concept and procedural form, showing how historical remedies inform today’s enforcement of monetary obligations, statutory penalties, and judgments.
🎓 Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Define and distinguish “debt” within its common-law meaning and differentiate it from unliquidated claims or damages.
- Identify the essential elements of an action of debt, including the requirement of a sum certain and the obligation’s enforceability in money.
- Analyze pleadings and defenses—such as nil debet, non est factum, and nul tiel record—and apply them to case examples.
- Trace procedural evolution from medieval common law to modern civil practice under state codes and procedural acts.
- Evaluate judgment and recovery mechanisms, including damages for detention, interest awards, and statutory debt enforcement.
- Compare debt and assumpsit actions to understand concurrent remedies and the shift from form to substance in contract litigation.
🧩 Topics Covered
- Definition and nature of “debt”
- Scope and concurrent actions
- Elements and certainty of sum
- Pleadings and declarations
- Common defenses and pleas
- Proof, trial, and judgment standards
- Amount recoverable and award of interest
📚 Format
- Delivery: Lecture-based with discussion on case law excerpts and procedural forms
- Duration: 10 small classes | Self-paced study
