Definition
Latin: "otherwise called." A phrase used in legal documents, pleadings, and records to signal that a person is known by more than one name. When placed between two names — as in "John Smith alias dictus John Jones" — it identifies both as names of the same individual. The phrase performs an identification function: it puts opposing parties and the court on notice that the two names refer to a single person, preventing confusion or mistaken identity in proceedings.
In modern practice, the full Latin phrase has largely given way to the shortened form "alias" or the English construction "also known as" (a/k/a). All three serve the same identifying purpose.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "Alias" in ordinary English means a false or assumed name, or alternatively (as an adverb) "otherwise known as."
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Webster's defines "alias" as "otherwise; otherwise called; — a term used in legal proceedings to connect the different names of any one who has gone by two or more, and whose true name is in doubt."
The gap worth noting: in everyday speech, "alias" carries a connotation of deliberate concealment — a criminal's fake name, a pen name, a disguise. In legal usage, alias dictus is neutral. It covers assumed names, but equally covers nicknames, name changes, anglicizations of foreign names, variant spellings, and clerical discrepancies in records. A researcher who reads "alias dictus" in a historical document should not assume wrongdoing; the phrase may simply reflect inconsistent recordkeeping.
Common Confusion
ALIAS DICTUS vs. ALIAS (writ): In procedural law, "alias" also appears as a prefix on writs — an "alias summons" or "alias writ" is a second writ issued after the first has failed. These are entirely unrelated uses of the same word. An alias summons does not mean the defendant has a second name; it means the court is trying again. Researchers encountering "alias" in procedural contexts should determine which sense is in play before drawing conclusions.
Why It Matters in Research
Alias dictus appears frequently in historical court records, indictments, land records, and probate documents. Its presence signals a naming discrepancy that may be critical to identity research — genealogical, biographical, or legal chain-of-title work.
Several traps exist in historical sources. First, spelling was not standardized, particularly for immigrant names, and alias dictus often bridges an anglicized form and a native-language original. Second, in criminal indictments, the phrase was routinely inserted even for minor clerical variations (a middle name dropped, an initial used) — not only for deliberate aliases. Third, in land records, alias dictus may connect a grantor's name as recorded in one deed with a variant in a prior instrument, which matters for title continuity.
For Law Mind corpus researchers: alias dictus entries in older digests and reporters are often indexed under the shortened "alias" alongside writ-related uses, creating retrieval noise. When searching digitized historical records, running both "alias dictus" and "a.k.a." and "also known as" across different time periods will surface the full range of relevant documents, since usage shifted over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Latin form predominates in materials before roughly 1900; thereafter, English equivalents take over in most American jurisdictions.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary provides a concise and accurate entry, correctly identifying "alias dictus" as meaning "otherwise called" and noting that the shortened form "alias" is the more usual construction in practice. Black's also acknowledges the colloquial usage — a fictitious name — while placing it appropriately as secondary to the formal legal function.
Note on Rapalje & Lawrence: The entry retrieved under this source in the available materials is misindexed and addresses air rights, not alias dictus. No substantive Rapalje & Lawrence definition for this term could be confirmed. Researchers should treat Black's as the operative historical dictionary source for this entry and consult Rapalje & Lawrence directly if access permits verification.
Neither source substantially addresses the procedural alias (writ usage), which is treated separately in entries on writs and process. Neither source discusses the evidentiary consequences of an alias dictus designation — a gap that practitioners filled through case law rather than dictionary treatment.
Jurisdictional Note
The phrase functioned consistently across American and English common law jurisdictions. Modern American practice has standardized around "a/k/a" in most court systems, though alias dictus still appears in formal pleadings and some state procedural rules. Researchers working in Louisiana records should note that French-language equivalents appear in early documents given the civil law background.