CONTINUANDO - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

CONTINUANDOAuthored

The Law Mind • 796 words

Definition

A pleading device used in old common law practice that permitted a plaintiff to recover damages for multiple acts of trespass within a single action. By inserting the word "continuando" into a special declaration of trespass, the plaintiff alleged that the first trespass was committed with a continuing character, extending across the entire period during which subsequent trespasses occurred. This avoided the inefficiency of bringing separate suits for each individual act of wrongdoing.

The device was particularly suited to trespasses of a permanent or recurring nature — for example, where a defendant's cattle were allowed to roam onto the plaintiff's land and continuously consumed the herbage over a period of time. In such cases, the declaration would identify the initial trespass and then use continuando to sweep in all subsequent related injuries as part of a single, continuous wrong.

Common Confusion

CONTINUANDO should not be confused with the modern procedural device of consolidation of actions or with joinder of claims, though all three serve broadly similar efficiency goals. Continuando was a term of art embedded in the form of the pleading itself — it was a word in the declaration, not a separate motion or procedural mechanism. Its effect was substantive to the pleading, not merely administrative. Researchers should also distinguish it from the concept of a continuing tort, a modern doctrine that shares conceptual roots but operates under entirely different rules and is not dependent on any particular pleading formula.

Why It Matters in Research

CONTINUANDO is an archaic term that will appear in pre-nineteenth-century common law pleading records, English and early American trespass declarations, and treatises on common law forms. Researchers encountering the word in historical documents should recognize it as a signal that the plaintiff was pursuing multiple wrongs in one action — which has implications for how damages were claimed, how the timeline of the defendant's conduct was alleged, and how courts at the time conceived of continuous wrongs.

The term rarely if ever appears in modern pleading, having been rendered obsolete by the adoption of code pleading in American jurisdictions during the nineteenth century and later by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Any appearance of continuando in post-1850 legal sources is almost certainly a historical quotation, an academic discussion, or an artifact of a jurisdiction that retained common law pleading forms unusually late.

Researchers working in the Law Mind corpus should note that Anderson's Law Dictionary entries excerpted here contain text relating to continuances and postponement — a separate procedural topic that begins with the same letters. This is a corpus navigation hazard: keyword searches for "continuando" may surface adjacent text discussing continuances, affidavits for delay, illness of parties, or discovery matters. These are distinct subjects and the proximity is coincidental to the alphabetical arrangement of the source dictionaries.

The Wiktionary definition accurately captures the core meaning but compresses it to the point of losing the mechanism — the word was not merely associated with multi-trespass recovery but was the operative term in the declaration that triggered that recovery. That distinction matters when reading historical pleadings.

Historical Dictionary Support

Black's Law Dictionary (1st Ed.) and Burrill's Law Dictionary are in agreement on the core definition and function of continuando. Both identify it as a word used in a special declaration of trespass to allow recovery for several trespasses in one action. Burrill adds useful texture, specifying that the device was suited to trespasses of a permanent nature where injury was continually renewed — the cattle-and-herbage example — and cites Termes de la Ley, an early English legal glossary, as the authority. Black's mirrors this framing closely.

Neither dictionary traces continuando into any significant body of case law or explains how courts adjudicated disputes about its proper use. This is a limitation: the dictionaries treat continuando as a drafting convention more than a litigated doctrine, which likely reflects its historical reality as a formalistic pleading word rather than a contested legal standard.

The Black's 2nd Ed. excerpt included in the source material does not bear on continuando — it addresses contingent claims, an unrelated topic that appeared in close physical proximity in the original volume. Researchers should treat it as a non-source for this entry.

Jurisdictional Note

Continuando was a feature of English common law pleading adopted in early American courts. Its practical relevance disappeared jurisdiction by jurisdiction as states enacted field codes or civil procedure reforms beginning in the mid-nineteenth century. It has no operative significance in any modern American jurisdiction.

CONTINUANDOmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

In pleading. A word which was formerly used in a special declaration of trespass when the plaintiff would recover damages for several trespasses in the same action; and, to avoid multiplicity | of actions, a man might in one action of tres- pass recover damages for many trespasses, laying the first to be done with a continuan- do to the whole time in which the rest of the trespasses were done; which was in this form: Continuando (by continuing) the trespasses aforesaid, etc., from the day afore- said, etc., until such a day, including the last trespass. Termes de la Ley. K

CONTINUANDOmain

Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890

posite party admits what such witness would testify to; inability to obtain the evidence of a witness out of the State in time for trial; detention of a party in a public service; sickness or death of a party or of counsel; commission outstanding for taking testimony; amendment to pleadings which occasions surprise; filing a bill of discovery. An affidavit to the alleged fact constituting the ground for continuance is required. See AMENDMENT, 1; NISI. Puis darrein continuance. Since the last adjournment or term of court. A plea Contingency with a double aspect. by which the defendant takes advantage of Occurs where remainders are so limited that one is a substitute for the other, in the event of the latter failing, and not in derogation of the latter.3 As, a grant to A for life, and if he have a son, then to the son in fee, and if no son, then to B. Contingent. Possible; liable to occur; dependent upon an uncertainty: as, contingent or a contingent - damage, demand or liability, devise or legacy, estate or interest, fee or compensation, remainder, use, qq. v. Applied to a use, remainder, devise, bequest, or other legal right or interest, implies that no present right exists, that whether a right ever will exist depends upon a future uncertain event.4 An estate will not be held contingent unless decided terms are used, or it is necessary to infer that a contingency was meant to carry out other parts of the will. a matter which has arisen since he entered his original defense.1 As, that the plaintiff, who was then a feme sole, has married; or that she has given a release. 1 In effect, a pleading of facts occurring since the last stage of the suit, whatever that be, provided it precedes the trial.2 Confesses the matter which was before in dispute. Not allowed if a continuance has intervened between the time when the matter arose and when it was pleaded: for the defendant is guilty of neglect, and is, besides, supposed to rely upon his former plea. Nor is it allowed after a demurrer has been determined, or a verdict been given: because relief may be had by motion.3 The appointment of a successor in office, after proceedings by mandamus are begun, may be set up by a plea puis darrein continuance. See CONTINUANDO; L. By continuing; vious stages of a proceeding, a day is given, by continuance. and entered upon the record, on which the parties are to appear from time to time as the exigence of the case may require. The giving of this day is called the "continuance," because thereby the proceedings are continued without interruption from one adjournment to another.7 In trespasses of a permanent nature, where the injury is continually renewed, the declaration may allege that the injury has been committed by continuation from one given time to another. This is called "laying the action with a continuando." The plaintiff is not then compelled to bring a separate action for each day's separate offense. But where the trespass is by one or several acts, each terminating in itself, and being once done cannot be done again, it cannot be laid 2. Adjournment, postponement, to another with a continuando; yet if there be repeated acts of term of court. May be had on account of - the absence of a material witness, who has been subpœnaed, unless the op1 L. con-tingere, to touch; to relate to, happen. 2 People v. Yonkers, 39 Barb. 272 (1863). See also 16 Op. Att. Gen. 413; 30 Me. 384. See Fearne, Cont. Rem. 373. 4 Jemison v. Blowers, 5 Barb. 692 (1849); Haywood v. Shreve, 44 N. J. L. 104 (1882). Weatherhead v. Stoddard, 58 Vt. 623 (1886), cases. • Kenyon v. See, 94 Ν. Υ. 568 (1884). * [3 Bl. Com. 316. trespass committed (as, cutting a certain number of trees), they may be laid to be done, not continually, but at divers days and times within a given period; or on a given day and "on divers other days and times between" that and another particular day.? 1 [3 Bl. Com. 296. See Steph. Pl. 64. 2 [Waterbury v. McMillan, 46 Miss. 640 (1872). 33 Bl. Com. 296; 4 Del. Ch. 352. * Thompson v. United States, 103 U. S. 480, 483 (1880). 5 Smith v. City of Waterbury, 54 Conn. 176 (1886). 3 Bl. Com. 212. 7 Gould, Plead. 86-96; State v. Bosworth, 54 Conn. 1 (1886); 58 Ν. Η. 41. Non-continuous. A grant of a right or easement (q. v.) in land is “non-continuous" when the use of the premises by the grantee will be only intermittent and occasional, and not embrace the entire beneficial occupation and improvement of the land.4

CONTINUANDOmain

Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867

L. Lat. (By continuing.) In old pleading. A word formerly used in a special declaration of trespass, where the plaintiff would recover damages for several trespasses in the same action. Termes de la Ley. Thus, in trespasses of a permanent nature, where the injury was continually renewed, (as by spoiling or consuming the herbage with the defendant's cattle,) the declaration might allege the injury to have been committed by continuation from one given day to another, (which was called laying the action with a continuando,) instead of compelling the plaintiff to bring separate actions for every day's separate offence. 3 Bl. Com. 212. 1 Ld. Raym. 240, 824. The form of words was this: continuando transgressionem prædictam, &c. à prædicto die, &c. usque talem diem; (by continuing the aforesaid trespass, &c. from the day aforesaid, &c. to such a day ;) and so including the last trespass. Termes de la Ley. It has now, however, become obsolete. 3 Chitt. Bl. Com. 212, note.

continuandonoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.

The situation where a plaintiff recovered damages for several trespasses in the same action.

Explore the full Law Mind legal research platform.

Subscribe Encyclopedia Sign In