Definition
A Latin term from Roman civil law meaning, variously: (1) to go to or toward something; to be added, joined, or appended to something else; (2) to belong or appertain to a thing; (3) to approach or be adjacent or proximate to something; and (4) to accede, assent, or agree to a proposition or arrangement. The term functions less as a standalone legal concept than as a root verb underlying several important civil law doctrines, particularly those governing the accession of property and the transfer or cession of rights.
Common Confusion
ACCEDERE, CEDERE, and ACCESSIO are easily conflated in civil law sources. Burrill notes that accedere was used less frequently than the simple form cedere, which appears far more often in the Digest and later civilian commentary. Cedere typically refers to the transfer or yielding of a right, while accedere emphasizes addition, approach, or joinder to something already existing. Accessio is the substantive doctrine — the rule that something added to a principal thing follows the principal — that accedere as a verb underlies but does not itself define.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering accedere in primary civil law texts or in civilian-influenced treatises should treat it as a contextual verb requiring interpretation against the surrounding doctrine rather than as a term with fixed legal content of its own. Its meaning shifts depending on which civil law context it appears in:
— In property contexts, accedere signals the doctrine of accessio: the idea that an added thing follows or belongs to the principal. Researchers working in historical property law, particularly in Louisiana, Quebec, or other mixed jurisdictions, will find this sense operative in discussions of fixtures, alluvion, and specification.
— In contract and agreement contexts, accedere carries the sense of assent or accession to a previously formed agreement — an antecedent to what modern law calls accession to a contract or adhesion.
— In spatial or procedural contexts, the approach or proximity sense appears in rules governing jurisdiction, venue, and access.
Because accedere is a root verb rather than a doctrinal heading, it rarely appears as an index entry in case reporters or digests. Researchers who encounter it in translation or commentary should trace immediately to the substantive doctrine (accessio, cessio, accessus) to locate the relevant corpus material.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the primary English-language treatment, drawing on Calvinus (Lexicon Iuridicum) and Brissonius (De Verbis Iuris) — both standard civilian reference works that Burrill cites throughout for Latin terminology. Burrill's entry is concise and accurate in identifying the four core senses of the term but is expressly economical, noting that the simple form cedere is more commonly encountered and directing researchers accordingly.
No entry for accedere appears in Black's earlier editions, reflecting the diminishing role of Latin verbal forms in common law dictionary practice by the late nineteenth century. The term belongs to the stratum of civilian Latin that was better maintained in Scots law commentary and in the Louisiana civil tradition than in English common law sources. Researchers working in those traditions will find the term more live than in purely common law materials.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Accessio (for the property doctrine the verb underlies)
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Cession (for the transfer-of-rights sense)