Definition
A writ of medieval English procedure, used in outlawry proceedings when the standard writ of exigi facias could not be fully executed within the time allowed. Literally meaning "the county having been allowed" or "with the county granted," the writ functioned as a supplemental or substitute exigi facias issued to the sheriff when fewer than the required number of county courts had been held between the writ's delivery and its return date. By issuing the allocato comitatu alongside a special exigi facias, the court could complete the outlawry process without voiding the prior proceedings.
Common Confusion
Allocato comitatu is easily confused with the exigi facias (or exigent) itself, of which it was a procedural adjunct. The exigi facias was the primary writ commanding the sheriff to call upon the defendant through successive county courts to appear or be declared an outlaw. The allocato comitatu was not a separate proceeding but a corrective instrument — it supplied the missing county court appearances when the procedural calendar fell short, allowing the outlawry sequence to be completed. Researchers encountering either writ in historical records should examine whether both are present, as the allocato comitatu signals an irregularity in the original process.
Why It Matters in Research
This term appears exclusively in the context of pre-modern English outlawry procedure and has no surviving operational significance in contemporary law. Researchers will encounter it only in historical English common law sources, Year Books, abridgments, or treatises treating the machinery of outlawry.
The key navigational point: the term cannot be understood in isolation. It is a dependent procedural device — it only arises when the exigi facias process was defective due to a shortage of intervening county court sessions. A researcher finding this writ referenced in a historical record should immediately turn to the surrounding exigi facias proceedings to understand what went wrong in the original outlawry sequence.
The phrase allocato comitatu also demonstrates the layered Latin naming conventions of old English writ practice, where the writ's name describes its operative condition (the county having been allowed) rather than its purpose. This convention differs sharply from how modern procedural instruments are named and can mislead researchers unfamiliar with the form.
Note the corpus connection: the term shares the root comitatu (of the county, or the county court) with posse comitatus, but the two concepts are entirely unrelated beyond Latin grammar. Posse comitatus refers to the power of the county to raise a force; allocato comitatu refers to the allowance or grant of a county court proceeding. Do not conflate them.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (both the primary and second edition supplemental entries) and Bouvier's Law Dictionary agree on all substantive points: this was an old English practice writ arising in outlawry proceedings, issued when the standard procedural schedule had not been satisfied. The sources are consistent in tying the writ to a deficiency in the number of county courts held.
Bouvier adds a useful functional gloss: the allocato comitatu is described as "a new writ of exigent allowed before another county court, if a former has not been fully served or complied with," citing Jacob and Fitzherbert's Exig. This framing clarifies that the writ was essentially a grant of permission to proceed before an additional county court sitting — it did not restart the outlawry process but extended the existing one to cure the deficiency.
None of the historical sources define the exact number of county courts required before outlawry could be declared, nor do they supply a detailed procedural timeline. Researchers needing that level of detail should consult primary treatise sources on English outlawry, such as Fitzherbert's Natura Brevium or later abridgments of writ practice.
Jurisdictional Note
This writ belonged exclusively to English common law procedure and has no American counterpart. Outlawry as a formal legal status was never systematically adopted in American jurisdictions. The term will not appear in American case reporters or statutes in any operative sense.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
The encyclopedia entry on Posse Comitatus (The Law Mind Military, Veterans & Admiralty Law Encyclopedia, military_17) shares only etymological roots with this term. No Law Mind Encyclopedia entry directly addresses English outlawry procedure or writ practice at this level of specificity.