CUI IN VITA - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

CUI IN VITAAuthored

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Definition

Cui in vita (Latin: "to whom in life") is an obsolete common law writ of entry that permitted a widow to recover lands or tenements that her husband had alienated during his lifetime without her consent. The action lay against the person to whom the husband had made the alienation — not against subsequent transferees — and was grounded on the principle that the wife, during her husband's life, lacked the legal capacity to challenge or withstand such a conveyance. The writ's formal language encapsulated the legal theory: the plaintiff could not gainsay the alienation in her husband's lifetime (cui ipsa in vita sua contradicere non potuit), and therefore she was entitled to reclaim the property upon his death.

Common Confusion

Cui in vita belongs to the historical family of writs of entry, which were procedural vehicles for recovering land wrongfully withheld. It is frequently encountered alongside related writs — most notably cui ante divortium (for a woman whose husband aliened property before divorce) and the broader writ of entry sur disseisin — and researchers sometimes conflate these remedies. The distinctions are substantive: cui in vita addresses alienation by a living husband during coverture, while other writs in the family address different disabling circumstances. The writs share similar Latin openings and formal structures, which compounds the confusion in manuscript and abridgement sources.

Why It Matters in Research

Cui in vita is almost exclusively a historical research term. Its practical significance ended with the abolition of the forms of action in England under the Common Law Procedure Act 1852 and with analogous reforms in American jurisdictions throughout the nineteenth century. Researchers are most likely to encounter it in three contexts: (1) medieval and early modern English land records and plea rolls where the writ was actually issued; (2) common law treatise literature, particularly Bracton, Fitzherbert's Natura Brevium, and Blackstone's Commentaries, where the writ is systematically described; and (3) nineteenth-century American legal dictionaries, where it appears as a historical artifact rather than a living remedy.

A critical research trap: the writ's availability was shaped by the doctrine of coverture, which denied married women independent legal standing. Understanding cui in vita therefore requires understanding coverture as a background condition — without that context, the writ's rationale is opaque. Researchers working in women's legal history, property law history, or the history of coverture will find this writ a useful doctrinal data point illustrating both the disabilities imposed on married women and the limited corrective mechanisms available to widows.

Jurisdictional reach is another consideration. Cui in vita was a creature of English common law and was received into American law as part of the common law inheritance, but its practical use in American courts was thin and short-lived. American treatises of the early republic period mention it largely to complete the taxonomy of writs of entry rather than as a regularly employed remedy. By the time American procedural codes displaced the forms of action (beginning with New York's Field Code of 1848), cui in vita had already become vestigial.

Corpus connections: the writ appears in discussions of dower rights, coverture, alienation of marital property, and the writs of entry family generally. A researcher tracing the evolution of married women's property rights will move from cui in vita toward the Married Women's Property Acts of the mid-to-late nineteenth century as the statutory remedies that ultimately replaced these cumbersome common law writs.

Historical Dictionary Support

The three source dictionaries are in close agreement on substance, which is unsurprising given that this is a purely historical term with no contested modern application. All three identify the writ as lying for a widow against the husband's alienee, and all three anchor the writ's logic in the wife's incapacity to object during coverture.

Burrill's Law Dictionary is the most useful of the three for research purposes. It provides the full Latin formula of the writ (cui ipsa in vita sua contradicere non potuit), cites Bracton (fol. 202, 321b) alongside Fitzherbert and the Register of Original Writs, and notes the Statute of Westminster — pointing researchers toward primary sources. The Black's entries (both editions) are more compressed, offering the essential definition but fewer research leads.

What the historical dictionaries do not address is the writ's relationship to dower as a competing or complementary remedy. A widow pursuing land alienated by her husband had to navigate the relationship between dower rights and writ-of-entry actions, and the dictionaries treat cui in vita in isolation. Blackstone's Commentaries (Book II) provides better context on this point.

Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Writs of Entry; Coverture; Dower

CUI IN VITAmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

(To whom in life.) A writ of entry for a widow against him to whom her husband aliened her lands or tene- ments in his life-time; which must contain in it that during his life she could not with- stand it. Reg. Orig. 232; Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 193. To Cui jurisdictio data est, ea quoque concessa esse videntur, sine quibus ju- risdictio explicari non potest. whomsoever a jurisdiction is given, those things also are supposed to be granted, with- out which the jurisdiction cannot be exer- cised. Dig. 2, 1, 2. The grant of jurisdic- tion implies the grant of all powers necessary to its exercise. 1 Kent, Comm. 339. Cui jus est donandi, eidem et ven- dendi et concedendi jus est. He who has the right of giving has also the right of selling and granting. Dig. 50, 17, 163. Cuilibet in arte sua perito est creden- dum. Any person skilled in his peculiar art or profession is to be believed, [i. e., when he speaks of matters connected with such art.] Co. Litt. 125a; Shelf. Mar. & Div. 206. Credence should be given to one skilled in his peculiar profession. Broom, Max. 932. Cuilibet licet juri pro se introducto renunciare. Any one may waive or re- nounce the benefit of a principle or rule of law that exists only for his protection. Cui licet quod majus, non debet quod minus est non licere. He who is allowed to do the greater ought not to be prohibited from doing the less. He who has authority to do the more important act ought not to be debarred from doing what is of less impor- tance. 4 Coke, 23. Cui pater est populus non habet ille patrem. He to whom the people is father has not a father. Co. Litt. 123. Cuique in sua arte credendum est. Every one is to be believed in his own art. 9 Mass. 227.

CUI IN VITAmain

Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867

L. Lat. (Whom in the life.) In old English practice. A writ of entry which lay for a woman against him to whom her husband aliened her lands or tenements in his lifetime. So called from the words of the writ,—cui ipsa in vita sua contradicere non potuit, &c.; (whom she, in his lifetime, could not gainsay, &c.) Reg. Orig. 232 b. F. N. B. 193. Bract. fol. 202, 321 b. 2 Bl. Com. 183, note. Stat. Westm. 2, c. 3. Litt. sect. 594. 3 Reeves' Hist. 36. Roscoe's Real Act. 96. Cui jurisdictio data est, ea quoque concessa esse videntur, sine quibus jurisdictio explicari non potest. To whomsoever a jurisdiction is given, those things also are supposed to be granted, without which the jurisdiction cannot be exercised. Dig. 2. 1. 2. 1 Wooddes. Lect. Introd. lxxi. The grant of jurisdiction implies the grant of all powers necessary to its exercise. 1 Kent's Com. 339. Cui jus est donandi, eidem et vendendi et concedendi jus est. He who has the right of giving has also the right of selling and granting. Dig. 50. 17. 163. Cui licet quod majus, non debet quod minus est non licere. He who is allowed to do the greater, ought not to be prohibited from doing the less. He who has authority to do the more important act, ought not to be debarred from doing what is of less importance. 4 Co. 23. One who has power to grant in fee simple may grant for life or for years; for an estate in fee simple includes all. Id. ibid. A man having a power to do a thing, may do less than such power enables him to do. Broom's Maxims, 76, [130.] A doctrine frequently applied in the law of principal and agent. More briefly expressed in the civil law, Non debet, cui plus licet, quod minus est non licere. It ought not to be that he who is allowed to do the greater, should not be allowed to do the less. Dig. 50. 17. 21. Cuicunque aliquis quid concedit, concedere videtur et id sine quo res ipsa esse non potuit. See Concedere. Cuilibet in arte sua perito est credendum. Any person skilled in his peculiar art or profession, is to be believed, [i. e. when he speaks of matters connected with such art.] Co. Litt. 125 a. Shelford, Marr. & Div. 206. Credence should be given to one skilled in his peculiar profession. Broom's Max. [720.] Applied to witnesses who are persons of skill, (periti, or experts, as they are frequently called) in any particular science, trade or occupation, implying that their statements on such subjects are to be believed, or received as evidence. Id. ibid. 421. The authority of mercantile usage, which is proved by merchants, rests on this maxim. 1 Bl. Com. 75. The following translations have been given of this maxim: " Every man is to be considered skilful in his own profession." Branch's Princ. "Every one is considered skilful in his own art." Wharton's Lex. Both these are not only grammatically incorrect, (the peculiar sense of credendum being also overlooked,) but convey a very different meaning from that intended by the original, which it will be seen embraces two ideas; skill in a party offered as a witness, and belief or credit founded thereon. So far from presuming skill in such cases, the law generally requires that fact to be established by preliminary examination. See Broom's Max. 424, [724,] and the case there cited. When the witness is shown to be peritus, and not before, the emphatic word credendum applies in its full force, and his statements are entitled to be believed, or received as evidence. The important word perito is sometimes entirely omitted in citing this maxim; as in 1 Bl. Com. 75. Cur pater est populus, non habet ille patrem. Cui pater est populus, pater est sibi nullus et omcis, He whose father is the people, has no father. He whose father is the people has no father and every one for a father. These two lines are referred to in the Year Book H. 8 Edw. III. 42, as the Ley civile que dit, &c. Cujus est commodum, ejus debet esse incommodum. See Commodum. Cujus est dare, ejus est disponere. Whose it is to give, his it is to dispose, [i. e. to regulate.] 2 Co. 71 b. Wingate's Mar. 53, max. 22. The bestower of a gift has a right to regulate its disposal. Broom's Max. 304, [346.] Thus, the bargainor of an estate may annex such conditions as he pleases to the estate bargained, provided

CUI IN VITAmain

Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910

(To whom in life) A writ, of entry for a widow against him to whom her husband aliened her lands or tenements in his life-time; which must contain in it that during his life she could not withstand it. Reg. Orig. 232; Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 198. Cui jurisdictio data est, ea quogue concessa esse videntur, sine quibus jurisdictio explicari non potest. To whomsoever a jurisdiction is given, those things also are supposed to be granted, without which the jurisdiction cannot be exercised. Dig. 2, 1, 2. The grant of jurisdiction implies the grant of all powers necessary to its exercise. 1 Kent, Comm. 339. Cui jus est donandi, eidem et vendendi et concedendi jus est. He who has the right of giving has also the right of selling and granting. Dig. 50, 17, 163. Cuilibet im arte sua perito est credendum. <Any person skilled in his peculiar art or profession is to be believed, [i. e., when he speaks of matters connected with such art.] Co. Litt. 125a@; Shelf. Mar. & Div. 206. Credence should be given to one skilled in his peculiar profession. Broom, Max. 932. O'iGUILIBET LICET JURI PRO SE -' Ouilibet Llicet juri pro se introducto renunciare. <Aly one may waive or renounce the benefit of a principle or rule of Jaw that exists only for his protection. Cui Heet quod majus, non debet quod minus est non Licere. He who is allowed to do the greater ought not to be prohilited from doing the less. He whe has authority to do the more important act ought not to be debarred from doing what is of less importance. 4 Coke, 23. Cui pater est populus non habet ille ‘patrem. He to whom the people is father has not a father. Co. Litt. 123. Cuique in sua arte oredendum est. Every one is to be believed in his own art. ‘Dickinson y. Barber, 9 Mass. 227, 6 Am. ‘Dee. 58. Cujus est commodum ejus debet esse incommodum. Whose is the advantage, ‘his also’ should be the disadvantage. _' Cujus est dare, ejus est disponere. Wing. Max. 53. Whose it is to give, his it is to dispose; or, as Broom says, “the bestower of a gift has a right to regulate its disposal.” Broom, Max. 459, 461, 463, 464. Cujus est divisio, alterius est electio.. Whichever [of two parties] has the division, {of an estate,] the choice [of the shares] is the other’s. Co. Litt. 166%. In partition between coparceners, where the division is made by the eldest, the rule in English Jaw 4s that she shall choose her share last. Id.; ‘2 Bl. Comm. 189; 1 Steph. Comm. 323.- Cujus est dominium ejus est pericu- ‘lam. The risk lies upon the owner of the ‘subject. Tray. Lat. Max. 114. Cujus est instituere, ejus est abrogare. Whose right it is to institute. his right it is .to abrogate.- Broom, Max. 878, note. ‘ a Y Cujus est solum ejus est usque ad -celum. Whose is the soil, his it is up to the sky. Co. Litt. 4a. He who owns the soil, or surface of the ground, owns, or has an exclusive right to, everything which is upon or above it to an indefinite height. 9 Coke. 54; Shep. Touch. 90; 2 BI. Cannn. 18; 3 Bl Comm. 217; Broom, Max. 395. Cujus est solum, ejus est usque ad celum et ad inferos. To whomsocever theé soil belongs, he owns also to the sky and to the depths. The owner of a picce of land owns everything above and below it to an indefinite extent. Co. Litt. 4. Cujus juris (i. ¢., jurisdictionis) est ‘principale, ejusdem juris erit accessorium. 2 Inst. 498. An accessory matter is subject to the same jurisdiction as its principal, (Va.) O91; (N. Y.) 135. fault or neglect; -Or neglect; or neglect,—and the definitions of these de Guilty.

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