ARRESTMENT, in Scots Law, signifies the securing of a criminal till trial, or till he find caution to stand trial, in what are called hailable crimes. In civil cases, it signifies either the detaining of strangers, or natives in meditatione fugæ, till they find caution judicio fisti, or the attaching the effects of a stranger in order to found jurisdiction. But, in the most general acceptance of the word, it denotes that diligence by which a creditor detains the goods or effects of his debtor in the hands of third parties till the debt due to him be either paid or secured. See LAW.