Definition
La cassetur (Law Latin: "that it be quashed") is a formal judgment phrase used in common law pleading practice. It designates the specific form of judgment entered in favor of a defendant who has successfully pleaded in abatement, in cases where the proceeding was commenced by bill — that is, where the suit was initiated by capias rather than by original writ. The judgment does not resolve the merits of the underlying dispute; it terminates the current proceeding on technical or procedural grounds, leaving the plaintiff free to recommence suit in proper form.
Two closely related forms of this judgment existed in historical practice:
1. Billa cassetur — "that the bill be quashed." The form used when the proceeding was by bill (commenced by capias).
2. Breve cassetur — "that the writ be quashed." The corresponding form used when the proceeding was commenced by original writ rather than by bill.
The distinction between the two turns entirely on the mode of commencement of the suit, not on any difference in the underlying legal effect.
Common Confusion
La cassetur is easily confused with a judgment on the merits or a dismissal with prejudice. It is neither. A successful plea in abatement resulting in la cassetur defeats the particular proceeding on formal grounds — defective process, improper venue, misnomer, or similar — without adjudicating the plaintiff's substantive claim. The plaintiff loses the suit, not the right to sue. Researchers encountering this phrase in historical records should not treat it as a final determination of the parties' rights.
La cassetur should also be distinguished from nolle prosequi and retraxit, both of which involve voluntary discontinuance by the plaintiff rather than a judgment in the defendant's favor on a plea.
Why It Matters in Research
This term appears almost exclusively in historical common law pleading materials, particularly English and early American practice records from the period when the forms of action governed civil procedure. Researchers working in pre-code pleading sources — roughly pre-1848 in most American jurisdictions, pre-Judicature Acts in England — will encounter it in reports of plea in abatement practice.
The critical research trap is anachronism: modern civil procedure has no direct equivalent. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and their state analogs collapsed the distinction between bill and writ proceedings and replaced pleas in abatement with motions to dismiss under rules such as Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b). A researcher translating historical procedure into modern categories must recognize that la cassetur describes an outcome that no longer has a formal procedural analog — the nearest modern equivalent is dismissal without prejudice on procedural grounds, but that framing obscures the historical significance of the bill/writ distinction.
The phrase also signals the type of action being studied. The presence of la cassetur in a historical record confirms that the proceeding was commenced by capias (a form of mesne process involving arrest or appearance) rather than by original writ — information that bears on identifying the nature of the underlying claim and the court's jurisdiction.
Researchers in early American practice materials should note that the bill/writ distinction and its associated judgment forms were received from English practice but applied unevenly across colonial and early state courts, where local variants of pleading practice sometimes blurred the terminology.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides a compact and accurate entry, defining la cassetur as the form of judgment for a defendant on a plea in abatement where the suit was commenced by capias rather than original writ, with a citation to Archbold's Practice. Burrill also cross-references billa excambii in the same vicinity of his text, which is an unrelated term (bill of exchange) — researchers scanning Burrill should take care not to conflate the neighboring entries.
The historical dictionaries are consistent on the core definition. What they do not address is the procedural extinction of this judgment form following the reforms of the nineteenth century. No historical dictionary in the Law Mind corpus provides guidance on how to translate la cassetur into modern procedural categories, which is precisely where contemporary researchers most need assistance.
Jurisdictional Note
La cassetur is a term of English common law pleading and carries no operative meaning in modern American, English, or Commonwealth civil procedure. Its relevance is entirely historical. Researchers in Scottish, civilian, or equity practice sources from the same period will not encounter it, as those traditions did not employ the bill/writ distinction in the same form.