Definition
"BSEPARATH" does not appear to be a recognized legal term. The source material provided under this heading contains three Latin maxims unrelated to any term by this name:
1. *Sententia facit jus, et res judicata pro veritate accipitur* — "Judgment creates right, and what is adjudicated is taken for truth." A foundational principle underlying res judicata and the finality of judgments.
2. *Sententia interlocutoria revocari potest, definitiva non potest* — "An interlocutory judgment may be recalled, but not a final [judgment]." Expresses the distinction between provisional rulings, which remain within a court's power to revise, and final judgments, which close the matter.
3. *Sententia non fertur de rebus non liquidis* — "Sentence is not given upon matters not clear." A principle of procedural fairness requiring that judgment not issue where the facts remain unresolved or uncertain.
These maxims appear to have been misattributed or misfiled under the heading "BSEPARATH" in the source data. No legal definition for "BSEPARATH" as a standalone term is supported by the available source material or any recognized legal authority.
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Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering this heading in a digitized or indexed version of Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) should treat it as a data artifact — likely a corrupted or misencoded entry label rather than a genuine term of art. The substantive content (the three *sententia* maxims) is real and researchable under their correct Latin headings.
If you are researching the underlying maxims, the relevant corpus entry points are:
- **Res judicata** and **judgment** entries for the first maxim
- **Interlocutory judgment** and **finality of judgment** for the second
- **Liquidus** (in the sense of clear or ascertained) and **non liquet** for the third
Historical dictionaries and digest indexes organize Latin maxims under their operative word, typically the first substantive noun or verb. Searching under *sententia* will surface these and related maxims in Broom's *Legal Maxims*, Bouvier's Law Dictionary, and similar reference works.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) reproduces these maxims with brief attributions: *Ellesm. Post. N. 55* (Ellesmere's *Postnati*), *Bac. Max. 20* (Bacon's *Maxims of the Law*), and *Jenk. Cent. p. 7, case 9* (Jenkins' *Centuries of Reports*). These are genuine historical sources. Bacon's *Maxims* and Jenkins' *Centuriae Casuum* were standard reference points in early modern common law practice and appear frequently in 18th and 19th century legal dictionaries.
The maxims themselves are consistent across historical dictionary sources. Bouvier's Law Dictionary similarly treats *sententia* maxims as expressions of procedural principle rather than substantive doctrine, and groups them under judgment-related headings. None of the standard historical dictionaries carry an entry for "BSEPARATH," confirming this is not a recognized term of art in any common law tradition.
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