Definition
Respondendum is a Latin term meaning "to answer" or "for answering." It appears almost exclusively in legal practice as a component of compound writs and procedural phrases — most notably in the phrase *capias ad respondendum*, meaning "that you take [the defendant] to answer [the plaintiff]." Standing alone, *respondendum* is not an independent legal concept but a functional element of Latin writ language specifying the purpose for which a defendant was to be seized or held: to compel their appearance and response to a legal action.
The term is best understood in context:
1. CAPIAS AD RESPONDENDUM: The writ commanding the arrest or seizure of a defendant's person so that they would be brought before the court to answer the plaintiff's complaint. This was the standard mesne process writ in common law actions at law, used to compel personal appearance before judgment.
2. RESPONDENDUM IN BAIL BONDS: When a defendant was taken under a capias ad respondendum but released on bail, the bail bond was conditioned on the defendant's appearance to answer — that is, to respond to — the original action. The abbreviation *C.C. et B.B.* (cepi corpus et ball bond) reflected this sequence: the body was taken, and bail was given to secure the appearance for answering.
Common Confusion
Respondendum is frequently encountered alongside related Latin procedural shorthand in older reports and records. The abbreviations *C.C. et B.B.* (cepi corpus and bail bond) and *C.C. & C.* (cepi corpus et committitur — body taken and committed) look similar but represent meaningfully different procedural outcomes: the first resulted in release on bail pending answer; the second resulted in commitment to custody. Researchers encountering these abbreviations in historical court records should not assume interchangeability. Respondendum specifically signals the purpose of compelling an answer, not satisfaction of a judgment — that purpose belongs to the distinct writ *capias ad satisfaciendum*.
Why It Matters in Research
Respondendum almost never appears as a standalone headword in primary legal sources. Researchers will encounter it embedded in writ phrases, procedural abbreviations, and bail bond recitals in historical court records, plea rolls, and early American case reports. The key navigational point: when you see *respondendum* in an archival source, the relevant doctrine and case law lives under CAPIAS AD RESPONDENDUM, not under this term.
The distinction between writs *ad respondendum* (to answer) and *ad satisfaciendum* (to satisfy a judgment) is procedurally critical when working in pre-twentieth-century common law records. Confusing them collapses the distinction between mesne process (before judgment) and execution process (after judgment) — a distinction that governed what property or person could be seized and when.
In American sources through the mid-nineteenth century, capias ad respondendum was the dominant method of compelling defendant appearance in civil actions. Its gradual abolition — replaced by summons-based personal service — means the writ and its Latin components largely disappear from practice after the Field Code reforms of the 1840s–1850s and the federal rules reforms of the twentieth century. Sources after roughly 1850 in reformed jurisdictions will use this language only in historical discussion or in jurisdictions that retained older practice longer.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's Law Dictionary treats *respondendum* not as a freestanding entry but as a component appearing within entries for *cepi corpus* and abbreviated writ notation. Bouvier's notation of *C.C. et B.B.* (cepi corpus and bail bond) and *C.C. & C.* (cepi corpus et committitur) reflects how practicing lawyers and clerks actually used these Latin terms — as functional shorthand in writs and returns, not as independent doctrinal concepts.
Bouvier cross-references *capias ad respondendum* and *capias ad satisfaciendum* as the appropriate headwords for substantive treatment. This is consistent with standard English legal dictionary practice: *respondendum* as a word is a gerundive meaning "to be answered," and its legal significance derives entirely from the writ formulas in which it appears. No historical dictionary in the standard shelf treats it as having independent doctrinal content.
Jurisdictional Note
The capias ad respondendum was a writ of English common law origin adopted throughout American common law jurisdictions. Its availability and eventual abolition varied by state based on when each jurisdiction adopted procedural codes. Federal practice abolished it for most civil purposes under successive rules reforms. Researchers working in equity courts will generally not encounter it, as equity used distinct process to compel appearance.