Art. 3501.Petition; Affidavit; Security

Article 3501 opens the General Dispositions section that governs both provisional remedies covered in this chapter: attachment and sequestration. Both let a creditor or claimant seize property before a court has decided the underlying dispute, so the Code insists on more than a conclusory request. The nature of the claim, its amount if the claim is for money, and the grounds for the writ all have to clearly appear from specific facts, stated in a verified petition or a separate affidavit signed by the applicant, counsel, or an agent.

That verification requirement matters because a writ of attachment or sequestration typically issues without the defendant present to contest the facts. The applicant's sworn account is, at that moment, the only check on whether seizure is warranted, which is why the article demands particular facts rather than a general assertion that a ground exists.

The security requirement is the article's other half. Attachment reaches a debtor's general assets to secure a money claim; sequestration targets the specific property a party claims to own, possess, or hold a privilege over. Either way, the seizure disrupts the defendant's use of property before any judgment has been rendered, so the applicant has to post security answering for the damages a wrongful seizure would cause. Later articles in this section, including Articles 3506 through 3512, build out how that security functions and when it is released.