Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Attachment. 1. The seizing of a person's property to secure a judgment or to be sold in satisfaction of a judgment. - also termed (in civil law) provisional seizure. Cf. Garnishment; sequestration (1)

Garnish

vb.[Old French garnir "to warn" "to prepare"] 1. Hist. To serve an heir with notice (i.e., to warn) of certain debts that must be paid before the person is entitled to receive property as an heir. 2. To subject (property) to garnishment; to attach (property held by a third party) in order to satisfy a debt. - Also termed garnishee. - garnishable, adj.

Garnishment

n. 1. A judicial proceeding in which a creditor (or potential creditor) asks the court to order a third party who is indebted to or is bailee for the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor's property (such as wages or bank accounts) held by that third party. ( A plaintiff initiates a garnishment action as a means of either prejudgment seizure or postjudgment collection. "Garnishment is a[n] ... inquisitorial proceeding, affording a harsh and extraordinary remedy. It is an anomaly, a statutory invention sui generis, with no affinity to any action known to the common law .... It is a method of seizure; but it is not a 'levy' in the usual acceptation of that term. It is a proceeding by which a diligent creditor may legally obtain preference over other creditors; and it is in the nature of a creditor's bill, or a sequestration of the effects of a debtor in the hands of his debtor." 38 C.J.S. Garnishment § 3, at 248-50 (1996).

garnishee

vb. See GARNISH,

garnisher

A creditor who initiates a garnishment action to reach the debtor's property that is thought to be held or owed by a third party (the garnishee). - Also spelled garnishor.

garnishment lien

A lien on a debtor's property held by a garnishee. ( Such a lien attaches in favor of the garnishing creditor when a garnishment summons is served and also impounds any credits the garnishee owes the debtor so that they must be paid to the garnishing creditor. - Also termed lien of garnishment. See GARNISHMENT.

garnishor.

See GARNISHER.

lien of garnishment

See garnishment lien.

wrongful garnishment

1. An improper or tortious garnisshment. 2. A cause of action against a garnisher for improperly or tortiously filing a garnishment proceeding.2. The judicial order by which such a turnover is effected. Cf. ATTACHMENT (1); SEQUESTRATION