Definition
Latin phrase meaning "by ways and means." A method of substituted service used in ecclesiastical and admiralty courts when a party cannot be served personally, typically because they are a non-resident or otherwise unreachable. Service viis et modis is accomplished by posting notice in designated public places or by any combination of means reasonably likely to bring the proceeding to the party's attention. The effect is to give the court jurisdiction over the action despite the absence of direct personal service on the defendant.
The phrase captures the flexible, catch-all character of the method: rather than one prescribed act of service, the officer employs whatever available "ways and means" are most likely to affect the party with actual knowledge of the proceeding.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering this phrase in historical ecclesiastical or admiralty records should understand that it signals a substituted-service proceeding — meaning the defendant was not personally handed process. This matters for assessing the validity of any resulting decree and for understanding how jurisdiction was established.
The term appears almost exclusively in English ecclesiastical court practice and admiralty practice. In the ecclesiastical context, Phillimore's Ecclesiastical Law is the primary treatise authority. In the admiralty context, the Scottish practice differed from the English: English admiralty posted notice at the Royal Exchange in London; Scottish practice required posting at the market cross of Edinburgh, the pier and shore of Leith, and the key at Leith. Researchers working with Scottish admiralty records should be alert to this geographic specificity.
The phrase is effectively obsolete in modern practice. Contemporary legal systems have replaced these mechanisms with codified substituted service rules. When the phrase appears in a historical source, it should not be read through the lens of modern service-of-process doctrine. The question to ask is not whether the service would satisfy modern due process standards, but whether it satisfied the procedural requirements of the specific court and era in which it was employed.
Connections to parallel concepts: researchers who encounter viis et modis in an ecclesiastical context will likely need to consult related entries on citation practice and contumacy (the default judgment mechanism that follows failure to appear after such service). In admiralty, the connection is to proceedings in rem and the treatment of absent defendants.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary and Burrill's Law Dictionary agree on the core meaning — substituted service by posting or public notice rather than personal delivery — but each contributes distinct detail. Black's situates the term exclusively in ecclesiastical court practice and frames it as the equivalent of substituted service in the temporal courts, citing Phillimore's Ecclesiastical Law at pages 1258 and 1283. Burrill's adds the admiralty dimension and is more specific about the physical locations of posting: the Royal Exchange in London for English admiralty, and the market cross of Edinburgh together with the pier and shore of Leith for Scottish admiralty practice.
Neither source addresses the procedural consequences in detail — what followed if the defendant still failed to appear after service viis et modis, or how courts evaluated whether the chosen "ways and means" were adequate. Researchers needing that level of procedural depth will need to consult Phillimore directly or period-specific admiralty practice guides.
The phrase itself reflects the Latin procedural vocabulary common to ecclesiastical and civil-law-influenced courts. Its absence from common law court records is expected; common law courts of the same era used separate mechanisms for absent defendants.
Jurisdictional Note
Practice under this term was distinctly English and Scottish, with meaningful differences between the two. English admiralty centered posting on the Royal Exchange in London; Scottish admiralty required multiple posting locations with specific geographic significance to maritime commerce. The term does not appear to have been adopted as a formal term of art in American courts, though the underlying concept of substituted service by posting has equivalents in U.S. practice under different nomenclature.