Definition
A Latin term from old English law meaning "to desire" or "to seek after." Used in medieval legal texts to express the act of seeking, desiring, or striving to obtain something — typically a legal right, security, or status. The term appears in Latin passages of early English legal writing to convey purposeful intent or aspiration toward a legal object.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering AFFECTARE in primary sources should treat it as a marker of intent or desire in the legal sense — closer to "to seek" or "to pursue" than a simple wish. In Fleta and similar medieval Latin legal compilations, the word often introduces a conditional clause describing who qualifies for or seeks a particular legal benefit. The phrasing "quicunque firmam affectaverit securitatem obtinere" (whoever shall desire to obtain good security) illustrates the pattern: AFFECTARE introduces the subject class of persons and their legal aim before the operative consequence follows.
Confusion can arise because Burrill's entry bundles AFFAIRE (Law French) and AFFECTARE (Latin) into a single entry, treating them as related. They are not identical. AFFAIRE is Law French meaning "to do" or "to make" — a term of action. AFFECTARE is Latin, expressing desire or intent. When reading Burrill's entry, researchers must track the language shift mid-entry to avoid conflating the two.
The term has no continuing life in modern legal usage and will not appear in post-medieval sources except in scholarly discussion of early English legal texts. Its practical relevance is therefore confined to researchers working with Bracton, Fleta, Glanvill, or similar pre-common-law compilations in their original or near-original Latin.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary is the primary shelf source for this term in the Law Mind corpus. Burrill attributes the definition to Fleta, lib. 2, c. 64, § 2, quoting the phrase "quicunque firmam affectaverit securitatem obtinere" and rendering AFFECTARE as "to desire." This is consistent with the classical Latin sense of the verb affectare, which carries meanings ranging from "to strive after" to "to lay claim to" — a somewhat more active connotation than mere desire. Burrill's translation is serviceable but slightly narrow; the verb often implies purposeful pursuit rather than passive wish.
No other shelf sources in the Law Mind corpus carry independent entries for AFFECTARE. Researchers should treat Burrill's entry as the accessible secondary source and consult Fleta directly for context.
Jurisdictional Note
Confined to early English law. The term has no recognized usage in Scots law, canon law dictionaries, or civilian traditions as a term of art, though cognate forms exist in classical and ecclesiastical Latin.