(a) At any time after the commencement of a civil action, and before judgment, the plaintiff shall, in the discretion of the court, be entitled to a writ of arrest for the defendant for any of the causes specified in section 172 of this title, whenever he makes and files with the clerk of the court in which such action is pending, an affidavit that the plaintiff has a sufficient cause of action therein, and that the case is one of those mentioned in section 172 of this title. The affidavit may be either positive or upon information or belief; but if the latter, it shall state the facts upon which the belief is founded.
(b) The plaintiff shall also make and file with the clerk an undertaking with sufficient sureties, in a sum not less than $100, and equal to the amount for which the plaintiff prays judgment.
(c) The writ of arrest shall be issued by the court in its discretion, and shall require the marshal forthwith to arrest the defendant and hold him to bail in the amount specified in the undertaking, and that in default thereof he keep him in custody until discharged by law, and to return the writ to the court from which it issued, with his doings indorsed thereon, when required by the plaintiff at any time before the defendant may be arrested, or afterwards whenever the defendant shall have been discharged from the arrest on bail or otherwise.
(d) The plaintiff shall deliver or cause to be delivered to the marshal with the writ a copy of the affidavit upon which the warrant was issued, subscribed by himself or attorney. The marshal, upon the delivery of the writ, shall endorse thereon the date of the receipt and upon the arrest of the defendant shall deliver to him a copy of the writ and such copy of the affidavit. The marshal shall execute the writ by arresting the defendant and keeping him in custody until discharged by law.