Definition
Gonventione is a historical writ issued to remedy the breach of a covenant made in writing, whether the covenant concerned real property or was personal in nature. The writ took its name from the Latin for covenant or agreement and served as the procedural vehicle by which a party could bring an action for covenant breach before the English common law courts. It applied to written covenants generally, distinguishing it from writs tied to specific property transactions or oral agreements.
Common Confusion
Gonventione is sometimes confused with the action of covenant more broadly, but the writ is the specific procedural instrument rather than the cause of action itself. It should also be distinguished from actions sounding in assumpsit, which developed to cover promises and agreements not under seal or in formal writing. Gonventione presupposed a written instrument; where no writing existed, a different form of action was required.
Why It Matters in Research
Gonventione appears almost exclusively in historical legal sources and is unlikely to surface in modern American or English legal materials. Researchers encountering this term will be working in medieval or early modern English legal history, plea rolls, or treatises on common law pleading. The term signals a formal writ-based procedural system that was dismantled in England by the Common Law Procedure Acts of the nineteenth century and never transplanted wholesale into American practice.
Two navigational points deserve attention. First, the writ is grounded in the old register of writs system, meaning that understanding its function requires familiarity with how writs were selected and issued — a procedural architecture entirely foreign to modern civil procedure. Second, the scope of the writ — covering both real and personal covenants in writing — reflects the broad utility that the action of covenant once occupied before assumpsit and later contract law absorbed much of that territory. A researcher tracing the history of contract enforcement, covenant doctrine, or the shift from writ pleading to general pleading will find gonventione a useful marker of the earlier system.
Sources referencing this writ, such as the Registrum Omnium Brevium (Reg. Orig.) and Fitzherbert's Natura Brevium, are themselves historical primary sources requiring careful handling. Fitzherbert's Natura Brevium, first published in the early sixteenth century, is an important guide to the register of writs and remains one of the standard references for identifying what writs were available and under what circumstances. Researchers using these sources should be aware that the organization and numbering of references may vary across editions.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) Supplemental defines gonventione as the name of a writ for breach of any covenant in writing, whether real or personal, citing Reg. Orig. 115 and Fitzherbert's Natura Brevium 145. The definition is terse and procedural, reflecting the entry's role as a writ identifier rather than a substantive legal concept. No modern edition of Black's carries this entry, which confirms the term's strictly historical character. The historical dictionaries offer no divergent views — the term is narrow, technical, and uncontested. What the sources do not address is the relationship between gonventione and the broader evolution of covenant as a form of action, nor do they situate the writ within the decline of the writ system. Researchers should supplement Black's with Blackstone's Commentaries and Maitland's work on the forms of action for fuller context.
Jurisdictional Note
Gonventione is an English common law writ with no equivalent form in American legal practice. American courts adopted the forms of action selectively and imperfectly, and this specific writ did not become part of any American procedural tradition. Researchers working in American legal history should treat this term as a reference point for English antecedents rather than a live concept in any domestic jurisdiction.