Definition
An archaic Latin form of the term battery, appearing in medieval English legal texts. Bateria denotes the unlawful beating or physical striking of another person. The term is not in active legal use; it survives only in historical records and Latin-language legal instruments of the medieval and early modern English common law tradition.
Common Confusion
Bateria is occasionally misread in manuscript sources as baomoz or other abbreviated Latin terms appearing in proximity within the same texts. Researchers should not conflate bateria with the civil law term baomoz (Lat. gradus), which refers to degrees of kindred and appears in the Novels of Justinian. The two terms are entirely unrelated in meaning and legal context but appear in close succession in digest-style historical dictionaries, creating a risk of confusion when reading compressed entries.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working with medieval English legal records — plea rolls, year books, or Latin-language writs — may encounter bateria where a modern source would use battery. Recognition of the term is necessary to correctly identify the nature of the action being described. Because Latin remained the formal language of English legal pleading until the mid-eighteenth century, variant spellings and Latinized forms of common law terms appear with regularity in manuscript and early print sources.
The primary research trap is treating bateria as a distinct cause of action rather than a linguistic variant. It is not a separate doctrine; it is battery rendered in Law Latin. Any substantive legal analysis of the underlying concept — intent, contact, harm — belongs under battery.
Burrill's citation to Fleta, lib. 2, c. 1, § 25 is the anchor reference. Fleta is a late thirteenth-century Latin legal treatise, likely composed during the reign of Edward I, and is considered a significant secondary authority on the English common law of that period. Researchers who need to trace the historical development of battery doctrine to its earliest English legal articulations should consult Fleta directly. The treatise is available in edited Latin editions and is part of the broader Bracton-era literature that shaped foundational common law doctrine.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the sole dictionary source for this entry. Burrill identifies bateria straightforwardly as the Law Latin equivalent of battery and anchors the definition with a reference to Fleta. The entry is brief and definitional, offering no doctrinal elaboration, which is appropriate given that bateria is a terminological rather than conceptual entry. No divergence exists among sources because no competing historical dictionary entry has been identified for this term. Researchers should treat Burrill's entry as a finding aid pointing toward primary sources rather than as independent authority on the doctrine itself.
Jurisdictional Note
Bateria appears exclusively in the English common law tradition. It has no recognized usage in American, Scottish, or civil law sources. Researchers working outside the medieval English legal corpus will not encounter this term in operative legal texts.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: BATTERY