meditatio fugæ

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. In Scots law, a phrase noting the position of a debtor who meditates an escape to avoid the payment of his debts. When a creditor can make oath that his debtor, whether native or foreigner, is in meditatione fugœ, or when he has reasonable ground of apprehension that the debtor has such an intention, he is entitled to a warrant to apprehend the debtor. The warrant may be obtained from any judge of the Court of Session, the sheriff, a magistrate of a burgh, or a justice of the peace, and is termed a meditatio fugœ warrant. Under the Debtors (Scotland) Act, 1881, which abolishes imprisonment for debt except in a few special cases, warrants of this kind are practically obsolete. Imp. Dict.