The Court of Exchequer's main task was collecting royal revenues and taxes, partially through ensuring that debts to the Crown were paid.
[2] The earliest record of a similar writ is 1230, although not with the quo minus wording.
[3] The use was similar to that of the Bill of Middlesex, a similar legal fiction used by the Court of King's Bench; where a plaintiff claims money from a defendant for payment of a debt, the plaintiff would claim to be a debtor to the King, unable to pay his money to the King because of the defendant's debt.
[4] If this legal fiction was successful, the defendant would be arrested and brought before the Court of Exchequer, where the case would be heard.
[7] Wurzel suggests that the introduction and widespread use of this writ was not due to any arrogance on the part of the Exchequer, but rather because they felt that as "the most ancient" court they should have superior jurisdiction.