Definition
A Latin term meaning "interchangeably" or "alternately." It appears in two distinct legal contexts:
1. Instruments and pleadings: The execution of a document by parties in an alternating or reciprocal manner, so that each party's copy reflects that party's name, seal, or signature in the superior position. The practice ensured formal equality between parties to a bilateral instrument.
2. International law (the alternat): The diplomatic convention by which signatory powers rotate precedence in the preamble and signature block of a treaty, so that each state's copy of the treaty places that state's name first. Each party receives a copy in which it occupies the position of honor, resolving questions of protocol without implying subordination of one sovereign to another.
Common Confusion
The term alternatim should not be confused with the maxim Alternativa petitio non est audienda ("An alternative petition or demand is not to be heard"), which is a distinct principle of pleading law. The maxim is historically associated with alternatim because it appears alongside the term in classical sources, but the two address entirely different matters. Alternatim describes a method of executing instruments or assigning precedence; the maxim addresses the impermissibility of a plaintiff demanding two inconsistent things in the alternative within a single pleading.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers will most often encounter alternatim in one of two contexts, and the corpus distinction matters. In older pleading treatises and real property texts — particularly those building on Littleton — the term signals a discussion of how indentures and other bilateral instruments were executed and delivered to respective parties. In international law sources from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the term describes what later writers simply call "the alternat," a protocol convention that remained significant in diplomatic practice well into the modern era.
The practical trap is that older sources run these two senses together without clearly distinguishing them. Black's 1st edition reproduces the term with only a citation to Littleton and Townshend, leaving researchers to infer context. Black's 2nd edition is more useful: it separates the international law sense (citing Wheaton's International Law) from the pleading/instrument sense, though it presents them without structural distinction.
Researchers working in treaty history should note that the alternat convention directly affected how treaty texts were authenticated and which copy was considered authoritative for a given party's domestic legal purposes — a point with relevance when tracing ratification records or comparing treaty texts across parties.
Historical Dictionary Support
All three source dictionaries agree on the core meaning: interchangeably. Burrill and Black's 1st edition are nearly identical, citing Littleton § 371 and Townshend's Pleadings. Neither develops the international law dimension. Black's 2nd edition is the most informative of the three, adding the Wheaton citation and a description of the alternat as it functioned in treaty practice — specifically the rotation of precedence in preambles and signatures.
None of the historical dictionaries elaborate on the functional logic of the alternat or explain its resolution of the precedence problem among sovereign states. Researchers seeking that context must go to Wheaton directly. The maxim Alternativa petitio non est audienda is reproduced in both Black's editions with a citation to 5 Coke 40, which is a real and verifiable report; its appearance in both entries reflects the traditional practice of clustering adjacent maxims rather than any substantive connection to the term's core meaning.
Jurisdictional Note
The instrument-execution sense of alternatim belongs primarily to English common law property and pleading tradition. The international law sense operates at the level of treaty protocol and is not jurisdiction-specific; it reflects customary practice among sovereign states rather than any domestic legal rule.