Short answer. Two things: an affidavit and a bond, both filed with the court before the order issues. Rule 57, Section 3 requires the affidavit to show a sufficient cause of action, a ground under Section 1, the absence of other sufficient security, and that the amount due equals the sum for which the order is sought.
What the law says
An order of attachment shall be granted only when it appears by the affidavit of the applicant, or of some other person who personally knows the facts, that a sufficient cause of action exists
Rule 57, Section 3 — Affidavit and bond required. Read the full provision →
What the law says
The affidavit, and the bond required by the next succeeding section, must be duly filed with the court before the order issues.
Rule 57, Section 3 — Affidavit and bond required. Read the full provision →
The affidavit and its four showings
Rule 57, Section 3 opens with the gate: An order of attachment shall be granted only when it appears by the affidavit of the applicant, or of some other person who personally knows the facts, that a sufficient cause of action exists. From the same affidavit it must also appear that the case is one of those mentioned in Section 1 of the rule, that there is no other sufficient security for the claim sought to be enforced by the action, and that the amount due to the applicant — or the value of the property he is entitled to recover — is as much as the sum for which the order is granted above all legal counterclaims.
Personal knowledge, not conclusions
Notice whose oath the rule accepts: the applicant's, or of some other person who personally knows the facts. Attachment seizes a defendant's property before any trial, so the affidavit that justifies it must speak from personal knowledge of the facts constituting the ground — not information and belief, not a recitation of the rule's language back to the court. In practice this is where applications are most vulnerable: an affidavit that merely parrots the statutory grounds in general terms, without concrete facts the affiant personally knows, invites the attachment's discharge on the adverse party's motion.
The bond, and why both must precede the order
The affidavit alone is not enough. The section closes: The affidavit, and the bond required by the next succeeding section, must be duly filed with the court before the order issues. The bond is the counterweight of the remedy — attachment is granted before the defendant has been heard on the merits, and the bond is what answers to him if it turns out the applicant was not entitled to it. Sequence matters as much as substance: both documents must be on file before the order issues, so a writ that issued without them stands on defective foundations.
Preparing an application that holds
Work backwards from the four showings. Identify precisely which ground under Section 1 of Rule 57 your facts fit, then marshal the documents that prove those facts through someone with personal knowledge. Be ready to explain why no other sufficient security exists — a claim already covered by a mortgage or pledge does not need attachment. Compute the amount due net of any legal counterclaims, because that figure caps the order. And budget for the bond, in the amount the court fixes. Attachment is a powerful remedy, and courts scrutinise these requirements strictly precisely because it bites before judgment.