Spence v. Simmons

— This was a scire facias against Spence as a defaulting witness, to show cause why a judgment nisi should not be made absolute. There was no declaration, and the judgment was by default; consequently the only question is, the sufficiency of the scire facias.

It is not indispensably necessary to file a declaration upon the return of a writ of scire facias, but the writ itself may be considered as the declaration, and always is under our practice, unless indeed a declaration be in fact filed. But when no declaration is filed, the scire facias (except in cases upon forfeited recognizances, in…