Definition
An archaic Law French term meaning "first" or "foremost." Appearing in old English legal texts, *apprimes* functions as a superlative or emphatic qualifier indicating primacy in order or importance. It is closely related to — and sometimes confused with — the distinct Law French term *appris* (also spelled *apprise* or *apris*), which carries an entirely different meaning: "learned" or "skilled," as in *apprises en la ley* (learned in the law).
Common Confusion
*Apprimes* (meaning "first") and *appris/apprise/apris* (meaning "learned" or "skilled") are visually similar Law French terms that appear in the same historical sources and are sometimes shelved in adjacent dictionary entries. They are etymologically unrelated: *apprimes* derives from a root indicating primacy; *appris* derives from *apprendre* (to learn). Conflating them in transcription or translation will produce errors in legal-historical analysis.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in early English legal manuscripts, Year Books, or treatises drawing on Law French will encounter both *apprimes* and variants of *appris/apprise* in close proximity. The orthographic similarity between these two terms creates a real hazard: a transcription or printing error, or a hasty reading, can easily substitute one for the other, producing a sentence meaning nearly the opposite of what was intended. A passage about someone being "first" in a legal sequence is entirely different from one describing someone as "learned in the law."
Because Law French orthography was inconsistent across periods and copyists, early printed legal dictionaries — including Burrill — treat *apprimes* and *appris* in adjacent entries but keep them analytically distinct. Researchers should not assume that any variant spelling beginning with *appri-* in a primary source refers to the same underlying concept. Check the sentence structure: *apprimes* functions adverbially or as a modifier of position; *appris/apprise* functions as an adjective describing a person's learning or skill.
This term is unlikely to appear in post-seventeenth-century legal writing. Its practical relevance is confined to paleographic and historical legal research, particularly work on Littleton's *Tenures*, the Year Books, and early common law treatises that retain Law French vocabulary.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary is the primary English-language legal dictionary source that addresses *apprimes*, and it does so economically: the entry is a single-word gloss ("First") attributed to Kelham's *Dictionary of the Norman or Old French Language*. Burrill immediately follows with the related but distinct entry for *appris/apprise*, quoting Littleton's *Tenures* to illustrate: *apprises en la ley* (learned in the law) and *les lays gents que ne sont apprises en la ley* (the common people who are not learned in the law).
The brevity of the *apprimes* entry reflects how infrequently the term appears in the legal sources Burrill surveyed; the heavier treatment falls on *appris* and its variants, which appear in Littleton and therefore carried more doctrinal weight in the common law tradition. Researchers should note that Kelham's *Norman or Old French Language* (1779) is the authoritative underlying source for the "first" gloss and may provide additional context for appearances of the term in specific manuscript traditions.
No significant divergence exists among historical dictionaries on this term, largely because so few address it at all. The risk is not conflicting authority but absence of authority — researchers encountering *apprimes* in a primary source may find little secondary guidance beyond Burrill's single-word entry.