Definition
An archaic Law French adverb meaning "besides," "elsewhere," or "otherwise." The term appears in early legal records and pleadings as a connective or qualifying word, functioning grammatically to introduce an additional or alternative ground, fact, or circumstance. It is not a term of substantive legal doctrine but a particle of legal Latin-French usage, encountered primarily in medieval and early modern pleadings, writs, and formal instruments where Law French remained the working language of English courts.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering AYLOURS in primary sources should treat it as a functional word — closer to a conjunction or adverb than to a term of art — and not search for a corresponding doctrine or legal rule. Its significance is purely linguistic: it signals that what follows is an additional or alternative matter distinct from what preceded. Misreading it as a substantive term can distort the sense of a passage.
Because the term belongs to Law French, it surfaces most often in plea rolls, year books, and early chancery records predating the shift to English in formal legal proceedings. Researchers working in those layers of the corpus should maintain a working vocabulary of common Law French particles — of which AYLOURS is one — to parse sentence structure correctly. Burrill directs readers to the variant spelling AILORS, and both forms should be searched when consulting indices or full-text sources, as scribal variation in Law French spelling was widespread and no single orthography was authoritative.
The proximity of this entry in Burrill to AYRE / AIRE (the old Scotch term for eyre or judicial circuit) is an artifact of alphabetical arrangement, not conceptual connection. The two terms are unrelated in meaning and origin. Researchers should take care not to conflate them when working through dictionary entries in sequence.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill is the sole shelf source covering this term, and his entry is brief: the definition rests on Kelham's glossary of Norman and Old French legal terms, which remains a standard reference for Law French vocabulary. Burrill gives three synonyms — besides, elsewhere, otherwise — which reflect the term's range of adverbial function depending on context. The cross-reference to AILORS suggests Burrill regarded that spelling as the primary entry, with AYLOURS as a variant. No other major historical legal dictionaries in the Law Mind corpus (Bouvier, Black, Jacob) appear to carry this term independently, which underscores its status as a word of linguistic rather than doctrinal significance. The absence of case-law illustration in Burrill is consistent with a term whose meaning is settled by its grammatical function rather than by judicial construction.
Jurisdictional Note
The term belongs to the Law French tradition of English common law and, in variant form, appears in early Scotch legal records. It has no modern operative jurisdiction and is not used in contemporary practice in any common law system.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
EYRE — for context on the Law French legal tradition and the court system in which such terminology was current.