ADJUDICATION - The giving or pronouncing
a judgment in a cause; a judgment.
Scotch Law. Certain proceedings against debtors,
by way of actions, before the court of sessions and
are of two kinds, special and general.
By statute 1672, c. 19, such part only of the debtor's
lands is to be adjudged to the principal sum and interest
of the debt, with the compositions due to the superior,
and the expenses of infeoffment, and a fifth part
more, in respect the creditor is obliged to take landsfor
his money but without penalties or sheriff fees. The
debtor must deliver to the creditor a valid right
to the lands to be adjudged, or transumpts thereof,
renounce the possession in his favor, and ratify the
decree of adjudication: and the law considers the
rent of the lands as precisely commensurate to the
interest of the debt. In this, which is called a special
adjudication, the time allowed the debtor to redeem
the lands adjudged, (called the legal reversion or
the legal,) is declared to be five years.
Where the debtor does not produce a sufficient right
to the lands, or is not willing to renounce the possession
and ratify the decree, the statute makes it lawful
for the creditor to adjudge all right belonging to
the debtor, in the same manner, and under the same
reversion of ten years. In this kind, which is called
a general adjudication, the creditor must limit his
claim to the principal sum, interest and penalty,
without demanding a fifth part more.
