Definition
A sequestrator is a person appointed to take possession and custody of property under a writ or order of sequestration, holding it until a legal dispute is resolved or a court-ordered obligation is satisfied. The role is essentially custodial and fiduciary: the sequestrator receives, manages, and accounts for the sequestered property but does not typically acquire ownership. Two related but distinct applications exist:
1. Court-appointed officer (equity and chancery): A sequestrator named in a writ of sequestration issued by a court of equity or chancery, empowered to enter upon and take possession of a party's property — most commonly to compel compliance with a court order, such as payment of a debt or obedience to an injunction.
2. Consensual depositary (civil law): In civil-law jurisdictions, a sequestrator is the person to whom property is delivered by agreement of the parties or by court order pending resolution of a dispute about ownership or rights. In this sense the role closely resembles that of a judicial depositary.
In both applications, the sequestrator bears a duty of care over the property in hand and cannot abandon the trust without cause recognized by the court or by law.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "One who sequesters."
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "One who sequesters property, or takes the possession of it for a time, to satisfy a demand out of its rents or profits. One to whom the keeping of sequestered property is committed."
The common definitions are accurate as far as they go, but they obscure an important legal distinction: a sequestrator is not simply someone who removes or isolates property. The legal role carries formal appointment, fiduciary accountability, and defined powers and duties under the writ or order that creates the position. Treating the term as merely descriptive — "one who sequesters" — can cause a researcher to miss the structured legal relationship and the body of chancery practice governing the office.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
Court-appointed sequestrator: Named in a writ of sequestration issued by a court of equity; holds the property to compel a party's compliance with a judgment or order. Powers and duties governed by chancery practice.
Consensual (civil-law) sequestrator: A depositary chosen by the parties or appointed by a civil court to hold disputed property. In Louisiana and other civil-law jurisdictions, this form is governed by code provisions on sequestration and deposit.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers face two overlapping bodies of doctrine. In common-law sources — particularly English and early American equity — the sequestrator is an officer of chancery, and the relevant law is found in treatises on chancery practice rather than in statutes. Maddock's Chancery Practice and Blake's Chancery Practice (both cited by Bouvier) describe the scope of the office in detail; these are the primary technical sources for understanding the sequestrator's powers in the equity tradition.
In civil-law jurisdictions, especially Louisiana, the sequestrator is governed by the Civil Code's provisions on sequestration (historically Article 2947 and surrounding articles). The fiduciary duty analysis there differs from the equity approach: under Louisiana's code, a sequestrator-depositary could not resign the trust except for compelling cause — a stricter rule than the more flexible approach familiar from chancery.
The key research trap is conflating the writ of sequestration with the sequestrator as an officer. Many historical sources index under the writ without separately treating the officer's duties, powers, or liability. Check both headings. Additionally, early American reporters sometimes use "sequestrator" loosely to describe any receiver or custodian of property under court control; verify that the procedural mechanism described is actually sequestration and not receivership or attachment, as the legal consequences differ.
Jurisdictional variation is significant: English chancery practice, Louisiana civil law, and the varied American equity traditions do not share a uniform rule on what a sequestrator may or may not do with the sequestered property. Do not assume that a rule stated in one source applies across jurisdictions.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (both editions) offers a spare, functional definition: a sequestrator is one appointed to perform a sequestration or execute a writ of sequestration. This is accurate but thin — it says nothing about the officer's duties or accountability once the property is in hand.
Bouvier adds the critical fiduciary dimension, noting that a sequestrator-depositary cannot simply walk away from the trust and citing Louisiana Civil Code Article 2947 for the rule that resignation requires cause rendering it indispensable. Bouvier also points researchers toward Maddock and Blake for the chancery side of the practice, which is the most useful navigational guidance any of the historical dictionaries provide.
None of the historical dictionaries address the question of the sequestrator's personal liability for mismanagement of sequestered property, nor do they discuss the relationship between the sequestrator and a court-appointed receiver — a gap that matters in modern research because receivership has largely displaced sequestration in American practice.
The Webster's 1913 definition, while not a legal authority, correctly captures the income-generating dimension: a sequestrator may hold property and collect rents or profits to satisfy the underlying demand, not merely preserve a static asset. This functional point is underemphasized in the legal dictionaries.
Jurisdictional Note
Louisiana's civil-law tradition treats the sequestrator as a species of depositary under the Civil Code, with duties and limitations codified rather than left to chancery discretion. English and most American common-law jurisdictions develop the office through equity rules and court orders rather than code provisions. Modern American federal practice has largely supplanted sequestration with receivership; researchers working in post-19th-century American materials should confirm whether sequestration and the sequestrator's role remain procedurally available in the relevant jurisdiction.