Form of action

The forms of action were the different procedures by which a legal claim could be made during much of the history of the English common law. Depending on the court, a plaintiff would purchase a writ in Chancery, or file a bill, which set in motion a series of events eventually leading to a trial in one of the medieval common law courts. Each writ entailed a different set of procedures and remedies which together amounted to the form of action. In the early Middle Ages the focus was on procedure rather than substance, and this restrictive approach is one of the reasons litigants petitioned the King directly, which eventually led to the separate Court of Chancery, from which the body of law known as equity derives. The forms of action were abolished during the 19th century but left an indelible mark on the law, and modern English law, like most other legal systems, looks to substance rather than form: a claimant needs only to demonstrate a valid cause of action.