With"er*nam (?), n. [AS. wi[eth]ernam; wi[eth]er against + nam a seizure, fr. niman to take.] Law
A second or reciprocal distress of other goods in lieu of goods which were taken by a first distress and have been eloigned; a taking by way of reprisal; -- chiefly used in the expression capias in withernam, which is the name of a writ used in connection with the action of replevin (sometimes called a writ of reprisal), which issues to a defendant in replevin when he has obtained judgment for a return of the chattels replevied, and fails to obtain them on the writ of return.
Blackstone.
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© Webster 1913.