Definition
In historical legal Latin, *cancellare* means to place crosswise or to cross out. The term carries two related but distinct applications in old legal records:
1. Physical act of crossing: To lay or arrange in a crosswise pattern, as in the gesture of crossing the hands over one another. The specific form *cancellare manus* — to cancellate the hands — refers to the act of crossing the hands, a gesture recorded in early English legal proceedings and conveyancing ceremonies.
2. Document obliteration: By extension, to mark or draw lines across a document in a crossing or lattice pattern so as to void, annul, or render it inoperative. This sense connects directly to the English legal verb "to cancel" and the noun "cancellation."
Both meanings derive from the Latin *cancelli*, meaning crossbars, lattice, or a grating — the physical image of lines crossing one another.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): *Cancellare* has no current English common usage; it is a Latin legal term encountered only in historical texts.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Webster's does not carry *cancellare* as an English entry, though it defines "cancel" as "to obliterate or blot out; to annul or destroy."
The gap worth noting is directional: the common English word "cancel" descends from *cancellare*, but modern speakers using "cancel" carry none of the physical, gestural, or ceremonial weight that *cancellare* held in old legal records. The crossing of the hands (*cancellare manus*) was a documented legal act, not merely a metaphor.
Common Confusion
*Cancellare* is sometimes loosely equated with simple erasure or deletion of a document, but the term is more precise. To cancellare in the historical sense required a physical act of crossing — drawing intersecting lines across a writing, or physically crossing limbs as a ceremonial gesture. This distinguishes it from mere interlineation, obliteration, or destruction of a document, each of which carried different legal consequences in early English law. Researchers should not read modern "cancellation" doctrine backward into sources using *cancellare* without confirming the context.
Why It Matters in Research
*Cancellare* appears in early English legal records and Year Books where Latin abbreviations and formulaic phrases govern the description of acts performed in the execution or revocation of deeds, wills, and other instruments. Two research traps are worth flagging:
First, the gestural meaning (*cancellare manus*) is easily overlooked. Researchers focused on document law may read past references to crossed hands as mere ceremonial description, missing that the crossing was itself a legally operative act in some early conveyancing and oath contexts.
Second, the term bridges into the broader history of cancellation as a mode of revocation. Early Chancery practice and common law treatment of deed cancellation both draw on the physical imagery embedded in *cancellare*. When tracing the doctrinal history of cancellation — whether as equitable remedy or as act of revocation — the Latin root in old records is often the earliest documentary layer.
Burrill cites Cowell's *Interpreter* as authority for the *cancellare manus* definition. Cowell's *Interpreter* (1607) is itself a significant source for law Latin in English legal usage, and researchers following this chain should consult Cowell directly for the fuller context of that usage.
The term is unlikely to appear in post-medieval English legal materials except in antiquarian or historical glosses.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary is the only shelf source carrying this term, and its entry is brief: it supplies the Latin derivation from *cancelli*, the core definition of "to lay or place crosswise," and the specific phrase *cancellare manus*, citing Cowell. Burrill does not develop the document-obliteration sense under this headword, treating that meaning as self-evident from the root.
The absence of this term from other standard historical law dictionaries — including Bouvier and Black's early editions — reflects its status as a term of art confined to old records and Latin-language legal documents rather than a term in active common law use. Researchers should treat Burrill's entry as a pointer to Cowell rather than a complete account.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Law Mind Encyclopedia — CANCELLATION (equitable remedy and revocation of instruments)
Law Mind Encyclopedia — DEED EXECUTION FORMALITIES (historical requirements for valid execution and revocation)