A technical term used to designate proceedings or actions instituted againstthe thine, in contradistinction to personal actions, which are said to be in personam .See IN PERSONAM.It is true that, in a strict sense, a proceeding in rem is one taken directly againstproperty, and lias for its object the disposition of property, without reference to the titleof individual claimants; hut, in a larger and more general sense, the terms are appliedto actions between parties, where the direct object is to reach and dispose of propertyowned by them, or of some interest therein. Such are cases commenced by attachmentagainst the property of debtors, or instituted to partition real estate , foreclose amortgage, or enforce a lien. So far as they affect property in this state, they aresubstantially proceedings in rem in the broader sense which we have mentioned.Pennoyer v. Neff, 05 U. S. 734. 24 L. Ed. 505.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
