Definition
Constat (Latin: "it is clear," "it appears," "it is established") carries two related but distinct meanings in Anglo-American legal usage.
1. As a Latin phrase of certification: An expression used in pleading and legal writing to affirm that something is clear, evident, or beyond doubt from the record. Its negative form, non constat ("it does not appear"), was equally common and signaled that the matter in question was unproven or uncertain on the face of the record.
2. As a noun — a specific documentary instrument: A certificate issued by the clerk of the pipe and the auditors of the Exchequer, at the request of any party intending to plead or move before that court for the discharge of any obligation or liability. The certificate's function was to record and certify what appeared (constat) on the Exchequer rolls touching the matter at issue. It served as an authenticated extract from the public record, enabling parties to present that record as evidence before the court without producing the original rolls.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "It is clearly evident; it is certain, without a doubt."
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "A certificate showing what appears upon record touching a matter in question."
Editorial note: The term bridges two meanings that Webster's 1913 and Wiktionary split between them. In legal usage, constat functions both as a Latin evidentiary phrase (as Wiktionary reflects) and as a proper noun designating the specific Exchequer instrument (as Webster's 1913 reflects). Researchers encountering the word in historical pleadings must identify which sense is operative; confusion between them can produce a misreading of the source document's procedural posture.
Common Confusion
Constat is sometimes confused with constate, a related but distinct term meaning to establish, verify, or declare a fact formally. Anderson's Dictionary of Law flags this relationship explicitly. Where constat (noun) is a certificate attesting what the record shows, constate is the act or process of formally establishing a fact. In historical sources, the two terms occasionally appear in proximity and can be misread as interchangeable.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers in the Law Mind corpus encounter constat in two distinct contexts that call for different interpretive approaches.
First, as a Latin phrase in pleadings, briefs, and opinions: The formula "it constat" or "non constat" was a standard term of art in common law pleading through the nineteenth century. When a court writes that "it doth not constat" from the record, it is making a specific finding about the sufficiency of the evidentiary foundation, not merely observing uncertainty. Recognizing this usage prevents misreading such statements as casual judicial commentary.
Second, as the Exchequer instrument: The constat as a documentary form belongs to an administrative and procedural world largely unfamiliar to researchers trained in American practice. It was a creature of the English Exchequer system, governed by statute (including 3 & 4 Edw. VI, c. 4 and 13 Eliz., c. 6, as noted by Burrill). American courts did not adopt the constat as a formal instrument. Researchers examining pre-nineteenth-century English materials, records of the colonial period with Exchequer connections, or historical treatises citing Exchequer practice should recognize the constat as a bureaucratic certification mechanism, not a form of pleading available in American tribunals.
The Latin phrase usage, by contrast, persisted in American legal writing well into the nineteenth century and appears in reported American decisions. Anderson's Dictionary of Law references several American cases where non constat functions as an evidentiary conclusion about what the record establishes. Researchers should not assume that American use of constat implies adoption of the Exchequer instrument.
Historical Dictionary Support
The five source dictionaries present a consistent account with useful layering. Black's (both editions) and Burrill define both meanings — the Latin phrase and the Exchequer certificate — in tandem. Burrill is the most precise on the procedural mechanics of the certificate, citing the relevant Edwardian and Elizabethan statutes. Rapalje & Lawrence presents the instrument definition without the broader Latin phrase context, a gap that understates the term's evidentiary usage in pleading. Anderson's is the most useful for American practice because it acknowledges the Latin phrase function and gestures toward American case law, though it does not develop the Exchequer instrument in detail.
None of the historical dictionaries addresses the term's obsolescence as a formal instrument or offers guidance on when it fell out of active procedural use. Researchers should treat post-eighteenth-century references to constat as a certificate with caution; by the nineteenth century the term in American sources almost certainly refers to the Latin phrase rather than a live procedural form.
Jurisdictional Note
The constat as a documentary instrument is an English Exchequer form with no American procedural equivalent. American legal usage of constat is confined to the Latin phrase in pleading and judicial writing. Researchers working in Scottish, Irish, or Channel Islands records may encounter variants of Exchequer practice that differ from the English model described here.