▪ I. sist, n. Sc. Law.
[f. the vb.]
A stay or suspension of some proceeding; spec. an ‘order or injunction of the Lord Ordinary prohibiting diligence to proceed’ (Bell).
| 1693 Stair Instit. (ed. 2) iv. lii. 755 Therefore (by Act of Sederunt Nov. 9. 1680) Fourteen Days are only allowed for Sists of Execution, from the Date the Bill was signed. Ibid., That it may be known what Sists are granted, the Clerks of the Bills are ordained to make an Alphabetick Inventar of Bills Refused or Sisted. 1721 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 562 A sist in case of heats and debates in a session, until superior judicatories took up the differences. 1753 Stewart's Trial App. 121 He gave notice to the tenants of Ardshiel, that he had procured a sist for them against the decreet of removing. 1765–8 Erskine Inst. Law Scot. iv. iii. §18 A sist granted on a bill without passing it, expires also in fourteen days. 1800 A. Carlyle Autobiogr. 287 The solicitor..immediately granted the alarmed brethren a sist. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 961 Where intimation of the application or sist in the Bill-Chamber has been made to the charger. |
| transf. 1831 Sir W. Hamilton Discuss. (1853) 216 In contempt of a sist on the proceedings by the Elector of Mentz. |
▪ II. sist, v. Sc.
[ad. L. sistĕre to cause to stand, etc., a reduplicated form corresponding to stāre to stand.]
1. a. trans. To stop, stay, or suspend (some proceeding, etc.), esp. by judicial decree.
| 1652 Reg. Commiss. Gen. Assembly (S.H.S.) III. 553 Their desire and overture for sisting the present differences had been mett by the Commission. 1679 Lond. Gaz. No. 1406/2 We have thought fit hereby to sist and supersede all Execution upon any Letters of Caption. 1716 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 192 The Assembly might now declare, that they did not..design to..rescind a sentence passed in the Commission; but only..had sisted its execution. 1831 Church Patronage Reporter Jan. 9 If it [patronage] enjoys the high sanction of the pages of inspiration, we may here sist our procedure. 1881 J. H. Stirling Text-bk. Kant 6 The whole business of metaphysic..is summarily sisted. 1885 Law Rep. 10 App. Cases 174 His Lordship sisted the appellant's action until the decision of the action of declarator. |
| absol. 1678 Sir G. Mackenzie Crim. Laws Scot. ii. x. §iii, If a pursuit were intented before them, upon a Bond, they behoved to sist, if the Bond was alledged to be false. |
† b. intr. To cease, desist, stop. Obs.
| a 1676 Bp. Guthrie Mem. (1748) 60 An accident which..fell out upon the second of July, and imported, that the covenanters meant not to sist there. 1676 Row Contin. Blair's Autobiog. xii. (1848) 456 Neither did the persecuting Prelatis rage then sist. a 1707 Sir D. Hume Domestic Details (1843) 55 My cause being in the roll, I had no mind it shall sist on any account. |
2. trans. † a. To present (oneself) before a court. Also without const. Obs. rare.
| 1643 Sc. Acts, Chas. I (1870) VI. i. 5 The Convention..haveing given warrant to Charge the erle..to compeir with all diligence and sist his persone befor thame. a 1722 Lauder Decisions (1759) I. 680 Where a prisoner..grants a bond..to sist himself such a day, or else pay the debt. |
b. To cause or order (one) to appear before a court; to summon or cite.
| 1721 Wodrow Hist. Suff. Ch. Scot. iii. i. (1830) III. 7 He was sisted before the committee for public affairs. 1752 J. Louthian Form of Process (ed. 2) p. vi, The Manner of apprehending and sisting Delinquents before the Court. 1801 A. Ranken Hist. France I. 283 On being sisted before the court, security or bail was taken. 1857 Gilfillan Life Waller 16 He..was sisted before the Court of War, and condemned to die. 1868 Act 31 & 32 Vict. c. 100 §98 Nothing herein contained shall prevent..the Court from sisting any person upon his own application..as a party to the cause. |
3. To place or posit. rare—1.
| 1836 Sir W. Hamilton Discuss. (1853) 313 Some..have preposterously sisted nature as the first or generative principle. |