Definition
A lawful excuse pleaded by a defendant in a suit brought by attorney, offered to demonstrate that the plaintiff has no valid cause of complaint. The term functions as a plea or allegation of justification — the defendant counters the plaintiff's claim not by denying the facts but by asserting a lawful basis that defeats the action. In this sense, contramandatum operates as an affirmative defense in early common law and civil pleading practice.
Common Language
This is pure Latin legal jargon with no common English counterpart. The component parts — contra (against) and mandatum (command or mandate) — appear in general usage, but the compound term as a whole exists only in legal and historical sources. No Wiktionary or Webster's 1913 entry applies. Omitted.
Common Confusion
Contramandatum should not be confused with countermand in the modern commercial or contract law sense, though the Latin roots are identical. A modern countermand typically refers to the revocation of an order or instruction — withdrawing authority previously given. Contramandatum in its historical legal sense is narrower and procedurally specific: it is a defensive plea in an action brought by attorney, not a revocation of a prior command. The surface resemblance of the terms can mislead researchers searching historical pleading records.
Why It Matters in Research
This term appears almost exclusively in early English and civil law pleading contexts and is rarely encountered in post-18th century sources. Researchers working in historical common law records — particularly in actions commenced through an attorney or agent — may encounter contramandatum as a formally named defensive plea.
The most important navigational point: the historical dictionary sources all trace the definition to Blount's Law Dictionary (Thomas Blount, Nomo-Lexikon, 1670), making that the primary root text. Researchers who find the term in historical pleadings or secondary sources and trace it through Black's or Rapalje & Lawrence will eventually arrive at Blount. If greater doctrinal specificity is needed, Blount's original entry is the more authoritative starting point than the abbreviated versions reproduced in later dictionaries.
The term connects to the broader category of special pleas and affirmative defenses in early common law procedure. It also touches the procedural distinction between suits brought personally and suits brought by attorney — a distinction with significant formal consequences in older practice. Researchers in early American or colonial court records should be alert to this procedural context when the term appears.
No meaningful jurisdictional variation exists in the modern sense because the term has not survived as an active term of art in any contemporary jurisdiction's pleading practice. Its relevance is historical and archival.
Historical Dictionary Support
The three sources in the Law Mind corpus agree precisely on the substance: contramandatum is a lawful excuse by which a defendant, in a suit brought by attorney, shows the plaintiff has no cause of complaint. All three trace the definition to Blount, with minimal elaboration beyond that attribution.
Black's Law Dictionary (1st Ed.) reproduces the definition but the source material in this corpus contains an apparent transcription artifact, running contramandatum's entry into surrounding material on contractus. Researchers relying on the Black's entry should cross-check against Rapalje & Lawrence or the 2nd edition supplemental, both of which give cleaner standalone definitions. The 2nd edition supplemental and Rapalje & Lawrence are functionally identical in language.
What the historical sources do not provide: any procedural mechanics, any case authority applying the term, or any doctrinal development beyond the bare definition. This is characteristic of terms that were recorded by early lexicographers from prior usage rather than from active contemporary doctrine. The absence of case citations in any of the three sources suggests contramandatum was already receding from active practice by the time these dictionaries were compiled.
Jurisdictional Note
Contramandatum has no active presence in modern American, English, or Commonwealth pleading practice. It belongs to historical common law and civil law procedure. Researchers encountering it in jurisdictional contexts should treat it as a historical term requiring archival rather than doctrinal research methods.