case sb.1 (senses ‘contingency’ and ‘state of things’ are freq.; ‘grammatical case’ Wiv. IV. i. 47)
1.
condition, circumstances; “in to,” in a
position to Tp. III. ii. 30; “in good ,” well off 2H4 II. i. 119.
2.
state of facts
legally considered, statement of the facts ‘sub judice’, cause or suit
1H6 V. iii. 165
“To be mine own attorney
in this ,”
Lr. III. ii. 85
“When every in law is
right,”
Sonn. cviii. 9; (hence)
question Cym. I. vi. 42 (‘in this question of beauty’).
3.
form of procedure,
more fully called ‘action upon the case’, which was ‘an universal remedy for all
personal wrongs and injuries without force, not
specially provided for by law, so called because the
plaintiff's whole case or cause of complaint is set
forth at length in the original writ’
(Blackstone) Err. IV. ii. 42.
