horning, letters of

one of the forms of diligence; the comparatively mild one.  Takes the form (as they generally do) of a letter in the monarch’s name under the signet seal, which is sent to a law officer instructing him to charge someone who has defaulted on an agreement to pay or perform what he had agreed within a set time under pain of being denounced rebel and ‘put to the horn’. It opens the way for the action by which the defaulter’s moveable property can escheat to the Crown in theory and in fact be sold to satisfy the complainer in practice. See poinding.