ABSQUE

4 definitions found across Law Mind sources

ABSQUEAuthored
The Law Mind • 820 words
Definition
A Latin preposition meaning "without." Absque does not stand alone as a legal term but functions as the operative word in several Latin legal phrases that appear in historical pleading, conveyancing, and procedural law. The phrases in which it appears carry distinct technical meanings; the word itself is simply the Latin equivalent of "without" (cognate with the preposition sine, which served the same function in other Latin legal formulas). The most significant phrases built on absque are: 1. Absque hoc ("without this"): The formal words of denial used in a special traverse in common law pleading. A party deploying a special traverse would admit certain facts, then deny a specific allegation using the formula absque hoc — "without this, that..." — followed by the matter being traversed. The phrase marked the precise point of factual contest and had to be pleaded with technical exactness. 2. Absque aliquo inde reddendo ("without rendering anything therefrom"): A formula appearing in Crown grants made without reservation of rent. A grant described as absque aliquo inde reddendo conveyed the land or privilege free of any service or return obligation to the grantor. 3. Absque impetitione vasti ("without impeachment of waste"): A qualification in leasehold or life estate conveyancing allowing the tenant or life tenant to commit acts that would otherwise constitute waste without liability to the reversioner or remainderman. This phrase is treated under its own entry. 4. Absque tali causa ("without such cause"): Related to the de injuria traverse, a form of denial in pleading rejecting the justification offered by the opposing party.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encounter absque almost exclusively in historical materials — Year Books, early English reports, plea rolls, and pre-reform pleading treatises. The term is essentially extinct in modern pleading practice, which abolished the intricate common law system of traverses and special pleading through procedural reform beginning in England with the Common Law Procedure Acts and in the United States through the adoption of code and later notice pleading. The critical navigational point: absque alone tells you almost nothing. Its meaning is entirely phrase-dependent. When indexing or searching historical sources, search for the full phrase (absque hoc, absque impetitione vasti) rather than the bare word. Burrill indexes absque under its own headword but directs the reader to individual phrases; Black's and Rapalje follow the same convention of using absque as a gateway to the compound entries. A secondary trap: older digests and abridgments, including Rolle's Abridgment and Comyns's Digest, cite these phrases in the context of specific procedural rules that no longer exist. A researcher using these sources to reconstruct the elements of a traverse or a waste claim must account for the procedural world those sources inhabited — one in which the form of pleading was itself substantive, and a defect in the traverse formula could be fatal to the plea. For researchers working in colonial American legal records, absque phrases appear in land grants and pleading records through the eighteenth century, often in anglicized or abbreviated forms. Familiarity with the Latin originals is necessary to recognize them in manuscript sources.
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries converge on the bare translation — "without" — and then redirect the reader to the compound phrases. Black's (both editions) and Burrill treat absque identically in this respect. Rapalje & Lawrence is the most useful of the shelf sources for practical content, providing the substance of absque aliquo inde reddendo and absque hoc with supporting citations to Rolle's Abridgment and Buller's Nisi Prius. Burrill adds the cross-reference to sine, the more common Latin preposition for "without" in civilian and canon law contexts, which is a useful distinction: absque tends to appear in common law pleading and conveyancing formulas, while sine appears more often in civilian-derived phrases. This division is not absolute, but it is a reliable heuristic when navigating between common law and civil law materials. The Anderson's entry reproduced in the source material appears to be an artifact of a different headword (likely ABSOLUTE) and does not bear on absque. None of the historical dictionaries treat absque as having any independent legal significance apart from the phrases it anchors — a point of consensus that accurately reflects the term's function.
Jurisdictional Note
The absque phrases are creatures of English common law procedure and conveyancing practice. Their application in American jurisdictions tracks the reception of common law pleading, which varied by state and was progressively displaced by code pleading after 1848 and federal notice pleading after 1938. Absque impetitione vasti retains some residual relevance in jurisdictions where life estates and common law waste doctrine remain operative.
Related Terms
Absque hoc — Absque impetitione vasti — Absque aliquo inde reddendo — Sine — Traverse — Special traverse — De injuria — Waste — Grant — Life estate — Common law pleading
ABSQUEmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
Without. Occurs in phrases taken from the Latin; such as the following:
ABSQUEmain
Rapalje & Lawrence • 1888
LATIN. Without. Used chiefly in such phrases 88Absque aliquo inde redendo: Without rendering anything therefrom. A grant from the Crown reserving no rent. 2 Rolle, Abr. 502. Absque hoc: Without this. Technical words of exception which were made use of in a special traverse; as, the defendant pleads that such a thing was done at B., &c., without this (absque hoc). Bull. N. P. 93; 6 Com. Dig. 167; 1 Saund. 21; Dyer. 112. Absque impetitione vasti: Without impeachment of waste. A reservation frequently made to a tenant for life, that no man shall impetere or sue him for waste committed. Absque tali causa: Without such cause. Formal words in the new obsolete replication de injurid. ABSTRACT OF TITLE.-A document containing an epitome of the deeds, devises, and incumbrances affecting the title to land, and upon which such title depends. the insertion in a conveyance, or other instru ment, of superfluous words designed to aid in expressing the party's intention, is not fatal to the instrument if, read without them, it would be valid. ABUSE.-LATIN: ab, from, and utere, to use. An improper use of a person or thing. 1. Abuse of distress, is the using an animal or chattel distrained. This makes the distrainer liable as for a conversion. 2. Abuse of process. When an adversary, through the malicious and unfounded use of some regular legal proceeding, obtains some advantage over his opponent, there is said to be an abuse of process. 3. In Civil Law, the borrower of a chattel which, in its nature, cannot be used without consuming it, such as wine or grain, is said to abuse the thing borrowed if he uses it. 4. Abuse of female child. See In England (in the absence of a stipulaRAPE. tion to the contrary), the purchaser is entitled to receive an abstract of title from the vendor, to facilitate his examination of the title, and with this object it is arranged in a peculiar manner.* ABUSE, (of corporate franchise). 3 Pittsb. (Pa.) 20. (in statute punishing carnal knowledge of female child). 58 Ala. 376. In the United States the duty of furnishing the abstract is not so definitely imposed upon the vendor, but the expenses incurred by the purchaser in its preparation are in many instances paid by the vendor, or deon another piece of land belonging to a ducted from the purchase money. This, different owner. In a deed the description however, is usually a matter of agreement, of the boundaries of the land conveyed and not regulated by statute. or leased, &c., is sometimes called the Abundans cautela non nocet: Exabuttals. (For the cases on the old rule, treme care does no harm. Under this principle that in an action of trespass the abuttals an abstract is made from a conveyance from A. to B., in which is recited a conveyance from Z. to A., the conveyance from A. to B. is said to be abstracted in chief, while that from Z. to A. is
ABSQUEmain
Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867
Lat. Without. Absque generali senatus et populi conventu et edicto; without the general convention and order of the council and people. Will. of Malms. lib. 3. 1 Bl. Com. 199. See Sine.

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