 The earliest record of a similar writ is 1230, although not with the "quo minus" wording.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.If this legal fiction was successful, the defendant would be arrested and brought before the Court of Exchequer, where the case would be heard.