[1] According to Bouvier‘s Law Dictionary, an action (synonymous with "suit") is the legal and formal demand of one‘s right from another person made and insisted upon in a court of justice.
[2] The kinds of actions are:
(a) ordinary and special;
(b) civil and criminal;
(c) ex contractu and ex delicto;
(d) penal and remedial;
(e) real, personal (or mixed), or;
(f) in personam, in rem, and quasi in rem.