The office of an attachment is simply to secure to a creditor the property which a debtor has at the time the writ is levied, so that it may be seized and sold in satisfaction of the debt, after judgment and execution shall have been obtained. In other words, it reserves the land to satisfy any judgment that may be rendered in the suit and creates a hen in favor of such judgment in advance of its rendition. Every person into whose hands the property may subsequently come, takes it charged with this lien.

Though the remedy by attachment is purely statutory, and while there exists in many particulars a wide dissimilarity between the attachment acts of the several states, there is yet a marked uniformity in the general steps that must be pursued to render it available, and its effect in all the states is nearly identical. The suit is instituted by the filing of a statutory affidavit, whereupon a writ is issued. This is followed by a levy, which, in the case of land, must, of necessity, be a paper levy. The levy is initiated by the endorsement of the fact upon the writ, and perfected by the return thereof, while notice is afforded by the filing of a certificate of levy with the recorder of deeds. Until such certificate has been filed the attachment does not become effective as to third persons.

In preparing an abstract the certificate of levy would probably be all that is required to furnish a notice lis pendens, but in practice it is customary to show a brief synopsis of the court proceedings. Neither in this, nor in other cases where court proceedings are shown, is it customary to give more than brief references, or statements of steps taken, and where greater detail is desired it is obtained by a transcript of the record and papers, or by a personal inspection of the files. Where the action is duly prosecuted and is followed by judgment, execution and sale, the attachment may be indicated only by reference to the issue, levy and return of the writ and filing of certificate, the validity of the sale depending on the judgment and execution.