Definition
Ocarence (also rendered as *carence* in French legal usage) is a French law term denoting a lack of assets or a state of insolvency on the part of a judgment debtor. The term appears most concretely in the compound phrase *procès-verbal de carence*, which is a formal written document prepared by a court officer (huissier) memorializing the fact that, upon attending to execute a judgment, the officer found no property upon which to levy. The document serves as official proof that execution was attempted and that no seizable assets were discovered.
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Common Confusion
The term as it appears in Black's 2nd Edition — "ocarence" — is almost certainly a typographical corruption of the French *carence*, reflecting either a scanning artifact, a 19th-century transcription error, or a compositor's mistake in the original printing. Researchers encountering "ocarence" in older legal materials or secondary indexes should treat it as equivalent to *carence* and search accordingly. The two forms refer to the same concept; "ocarence" has no independent legal meaning and does not appear as a recognized standalone term in French civil law.
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Why It Matters in Research
This entry is a cautionary one for corpus researchers. "Ocarence" as printed in Black's 2nd Edition is almost certainly a corruption — whether typographical, OCR-introduced, or compositor-era — of the French legal term *carence*. A researcher searching a digitized corpus for "ocarence" will find only this single corrupted entry and its derivatives. The substantive research trail runs through *carence* and *procès-verbal de carence*.
For researchers working in French commercial law, Louisiana law, or any jurisdiction historically influenced by the Napoleonic Code, the *procès-verbal de carence* remains a procedurally significant document. It functions as an official record of nulla bona — the civil law counterpart to the common law return of the same name — and has evidentiary consequences for judgment creditors seeking to establish insolvency or pursue alternative remedies such as the *action paulienne* (creditor's action to set aside fraudulent transfers).
When searching historical sources, be alert to variant spellings: *carence*, *carence de biens*, and occasionally *défaut d'actif*. Black's cross-reference to *Arg. Fr. Merc. Law* (Argou's *Institutions au Droit François* as adapted for mercantile law purposes) is a narrow specialized source; the concept receives fuller treatment in French civil procedure texts and Louisiana jurisprudence sources.
Do not conflate this term with the common law concept of *nulla bona* (the sheriff's return that no goods were found), though the practical function is analogous. The procedural framing, evidentiary weight, and downstream consequences differ between civil law and common law systems.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Black's 2nd Edition is the sole Law Mind shelf source carrying this entry, and it treats the term briefly, defining it by reference to *Arg. Fr. Merc. Law* at page 547. The entry immediately follows definitions for *careta* (a cart or cart-load) and *caretorius* (a carter), suggesting the original text was alphabetized under "car-" and that "ocarence" is a prefixed or corrupted rendering of the word rather than a discrete headword.
No independent corroboration for the form "ocarence" exists in standard French legal dictionaries or in Louisiana civil law sources, which consistently use *carence* alone. The historical dictionary record here is useful primarily as evidence of how OCR-era digitization and older typesetting introduced errors that now appear with the authority of a published definition. Researchers should weight the concept, not the corrupted spelling.
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Jurisdictional Note
The underlying concept (*carence* / *procès-verbal de carence*) is a civil law institution with primary relevance to French law and Louisiana law. Common law jurisdictions use functionally analogous mechanisms — the sheriff's return of *nulla bona*, supplemental proceedings, and judgment debtor examinations — but the formal *procès-verbal* as a discrete procedural document is not a feature of common law practice.
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