Definition
A Latin term used in common law pleading and practice to describe a sheriff's return indicating that a writ was delivered too late to be executed. When a writ reached the sheriff so close to the return date that execution within the required time was impossible, the sheriff would endorse the writ with a return of *tarde* — signifying that the process came to hand too late (*adeo tardè venit*) or was delivered to him too late (*quod breve adeo tardè sibi liberatum fuit*) for him to carry out its command. The full return stated, in effect, that the writ could not be executed (*quod illud exequi non poterit*).
Common Confusion
TARDE is distinct from a NULL BONA or NULLA BONA return (no goods found) and from a NON EST INVENTUS return (defendant not found). All three are sheriff's returns reporting failed execution, but they identify different obstacles: *tarde* speaks to timing, not to the absence of property or persons. Researchers working with writ files and return endorsements should be careful not to conflate these returns, as they had different procedural consequences for the party seeking enforcement.
Why It Matters in Research
TARDE appears almost exclusively in materials concerning common law civil procedure, particularly in the context of real actions, original writs, and the mechanics of mesne process. Researchers will encounter it most often in:
- **Writ files and return endorsements** in historical court records, where *tarde* appears as a one-word or abbreviated notation on the back of a writ.
- **Treatises on real actions**, where the procedural consequences of a *tarde* return are discussed — typically that the party could sue out an alias or pluries writ, since the failure was attributable to the court's process rather than the sheriff's misconduct.
- **Year Books and early common law reporters**, where disputes over whether a return was properly made as *tarde* arise in the context of counting and pleading.
The term is essentially obsolete in modern American and English practice, which has replaced the writ system with notice pleading and modern civil procedure rules. It will not appear in post-19th century sources except as historical reference. When researching pre-1850 materials — especially English chancery or common law records, or early American state court files — recognizing *tarde* as a technical return prevents misreading the procedural posture of a case.
The connection to **VENIRE** is worth noting: Anderson's Dictionary of Law cross-references *tarde* under that heading, suggesting the term appeared in contexts involving jury process writs as well as writs directed at individual defendants or property.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the most complete treatment, giving the full Latin formula of the return and citing *Reg. Jud.* (Registrum Judiciale) and Roscoe's *Real Actions* as authority. This places the term squarely in the tradition of real property practice and writ procedure. Anderson offers only a cross-reference, directing the reader to the VENIRE entry, which suggests *tarde* was understood as a subspecies of procedural return rather than a freestanding doctrine requiring independent explanation.
Both sources treat the term as settled and technical — there is no controversy in the historical dictionaries about its meaning. The shortcoming of both entries, from a modern researcher's perspective, is that neither explains the procedural consequence of a *tarde* return with any detail. For that, the underlying treatises — particularly Roscoe's *Actions Relating to Real Property* — are necessary.
Jurisdictional Note
TARDE is a term of English common law procedure and was carried into early American practice wherever the writ system was adopted. American jurisdictions that abandoned the forms of action early (or by statute) will have little use of the term after the mid-19th century. It is primarily relevant to English legal history and to American jurisdictions with robust early common law court records.