Definition
A Latin phrase meaning "they remain for lack of buyers." Remanent pro defectu emptorum is the formal return made by a sheriff to a writ of execution when the sheriff has levied on property but has been unable to sell it because no buyers came forward at the sale. The return notifies the court that the seized goods or land remain unsold, and it entitles the judgment creditor to pursue further process — most commonly a writ of venditioni exponas — compelling the sheriff to again expose the property to sale.
Common Confusion
Remanent pro defectu emptorum is sometimes confused with NULLA BONA, the sheriff's return indicating that the debtor has no property to seize. The two returns are categorically distinct: nulla bona reports a failed levy (nothing found to take), while remanent pro defectu reports a failed sale (property taken but not sold). Confusing them in research produces error because they trigger different subsequent writs and remedies. A researcher examining historical execution proceedings must verify which return was actually made before drawing conclusions about the debtor's circumstances.
Why It Matters in Research
This term appears almost exclusively in historical sources tied to common law execution practice. It surfaces in sheriff's returns, writ practice manuals, and early American and English procedural records from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Researchers working in those materials need to recognize the phrase in Latin form, as it was rarely translated in contemporary court records.
The term's practical significance lies in what it triggered procedurally: a remanent pro defectu return was not a dead end for the creditor. It activated the right to a venditioni exponas — a secondary writ ordering the sheriff to sell at whatever price the goods will bring. Understanding this chain is essential when tracing execution proceedings in historical case files or docket books, where the writ sequence may be recorded without narrative explanation.
Modern execution statutes in the United States have abolished most of this Latin writ vocabulary and replaced it with codified procedures. Researchers working in post-nineteenth-century materials are unlikely to encounter remanent pro defectu in active use; the concept survives in substance (unsold property after levy), but the formal Latin return does not.
The Rapalje & Lawrence fragment in the source material appears garbled in context — the language about daughters in tail belongs to a different entry (likely REMAINDER or a common-in-tail provision) and was apparently run together in the scanning or compilation process. Researchers should not treat that fragment as bearing on the meaning of remanent pro defectu emptorum.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's provides the clearest and most complete definition: remanent pro defectu emptorum is the sheriff's return on a writ of execution when the property "remains unsold for want of buyers," and it entitles the plaintiff to a venditioni exponas. Bouvier cites Comyn's Digest (Execution C8) as authority, which points researchers toward that treatise for the full procedural context. Bouvier also distinguishes the closely related entry REMANET (the bare Latin term for causes left over on a trial calendar), indicating he understood these as separate concepts despite the shared root.
Rapalje & Lawrence's usable content on this term is minimal; the relevant passage in the source material is corrupted by an unrelated entry running into it. No substantive divergence between the two dictionaries can be assessed on this term from available source text.
Neither dictionary addresses the abolition of the Latin return forms or the transition to modern statutory execution practice — a gap reflecting the vintage of both sources. Researchers should supplement with procedural histories or jurisdiction-specific practice guides when tracing how this return was replaced or absorbed into local court rules.
Jurisdictional Note
Remanent pro defectu emptorum was recognized across common law jurisdictions in England and the United States as a standard sheriff's return. American states replaced Latin writ terminology at varying points through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; some jurisdictions retained the venditioni exponas by name even after abandoning the Latin return language.