CUM

7 definitions found across Law Mind sources

CUMAuthored
The Law Mind • 900 words
Definition
A Latin preposition meaning "with" or "together with," used in legal texts, instruments, and case names to indicate combination, accompaniment, or connection between two things. In legal usage, *cum* most commonly appears as a prefix or connective in compound Latin phrases rather than standing alone — functioning as a grammatical link between terms rather than as a substantive legal concept in its own right. Common compound constructions include: 1. *Cum testamento annexo* — "with the will annexed"; used in probate administration when a will exists but no executor has been named or qualified. 2. *Cum onere* — "with the burden"; indicating that property passes subject to existing charges or encumbrances. 3. *Cum privilegio* — "with privilege"; a grant of exclusive rights, historically associated with royal license to print. 4. *Quod cum* — "that whereas"; a formulaic recital appearing throughout medieval writs and pleadings.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): In informal modern English, "cum" functions as a noun and verb referring to sexual ejaculate or the act of ejaculation. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Webster's 1913 does not carry an independent entry for "cum" as an English word. The term was not yet established in common English usage; it existed in the dictionary record solely as a Latin preposition meaning "with." The gap between the legal and common modern meanings is total and non-overlapping. Researchers encountering *cum* in any legal instrument, writ, court record, or treatise should treat it exclusively as the Latin preposition. The modern vulgar usage is entirely unrelated to the legal term and has no bearing on any historical or contemporary legal text.
Common Confusion
*Cum* is sometimes confused with *con* or *com*, which are its Romance-language cognates and appear in similar connective roles in Spanish and French legal texts. In older manuscripts and early printed legal works, scribal abbreviation and variant spelling further blur the distinction — *com*, *quum*, and *quom* all appear as alternate spellings of *cum* in historical sources, particularly in pre-Norman and early Norman records. Researchers working with manuscript sources should be alert to these variants when searching or transcribing.
Why It Matters in Research
For Law Mind corpus researchers, *cum* matters less as a standalone term than as a signal that a compound phrase requires attention. Its primary research function is navigational: encountering *cum* in a historical text almost always means a multi-word Latin phrase is in play, and that phrase — not *cum* itself — carries the legal weight. Key traps in historical sources: - **Abbreviation**: In medieval and early modern legal manuscripts, *cum* is frequently abbreviated. A superscript stroke, a tilde, or a terminal contraction mark may suppress the word entirely. Researchers transcribing writs or pleadings should not assume the word will appear spelled out. - **Variant spelling**: Burrill's Law Dictionary explicitly notes the variants *quum* and *quom*. Full-text searching across the corpus should account for these forms, particularly in sources predating standardized Latin orthography. - **Compound phrase identification**: Terms like *cum testamento annexo* have their own substantive legal definitions and appear elsewhere in this dictionary under those full phrases. Searching for *cum* alone will surface these compounds but will not retrieve their definitions; researchers should follow through to the full phrase entry. - **Contextual register**: In formulaic pleading — particularly in writs following the Registrum Brevium tradition — *quod cum* opens a factual recital and signals the narrative portion of the writ. Recognizing this construction helps researchers parse the structure of medieval and early modern pleadings correctly.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the most useful treatment, noting both the prepositional sense ("With") and the adverbial sense ("When; whereas"), with the latter appearing specifically in formulaic contexts such as *quod cum* in the Registrum Originale. Burrill correctly identifies the term as a gateway to compound constructions rather than a standalone legal concept, and his cross-references to related entries are sound. Bouvier's Law Dictionary does not address *cum* as an independent term. The entry retrieved in source material concerns the Parliament of Devils at Coventry — an unrelated historical reference that surfaced under proximity indexing and should be disregarded for purposes of this entry. Anderson's Dictionary of Law likewise yields no direct treatment of *cum*. The retrieved passage concerns charitable status of animal welfare organizations — again an artifact of indexing proximity, not substantive content on this term. Historical dictionaries broadly agree that *cum* is a Latin grammatical particle rather than a term of art, and they are consistent in directing readers to compound phrases for substantive definitions. What the historical dictionaries miss — understandably, given their era — is any guidance on the modern common-usage homonym and the interpretive confusion it can cause for contemporary researchers encountering historical legal texts.
Jurisdictional Note
As a Latin grammatical term, *cum* appears across all common law jurisdictions that used Latin in legal proceedings — England, colonial America, and their successors — through the periods when Latin pleading was standard. Its use declines sharply after English law reforms abolishing Latin in court proceedings (mid-18th century in England; variable in American jurisdictions). It persists longest in probate practice through phrases such as *cum testamento annexo*, which remain in active use in American probate law to the present day.
Related Terms
Cum testamento annexo; cum onere; administrator cum testamento annexo; quod cum; Letters of administration; Registrum Brevium; Latin maxims; Testamentary administration
CUMmain
Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890
The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a "charity." There is no pecuniary benefit in it for any of its members; its work in the education of mankind in the proper treatment of domestic animals is instruction in a duty incumbent on us as human beings. Its hospital for animals, if established by a bequest or other gift, would be treated as a charity. It has a humane, legal, and public or general purpose; and, whether expressed or not in the Statute of 43 Elizabeth, comes within the equity of that statute. An institution is both benevolent and charitable which educates men in the diseases of the domestic animals, and the proper means of dealing with them, even if it also inculcates the duty of kindness and humanity to them, and provides appropriate means of discharging it. 1 Common carriers, by land or water, from one State to another, may not confine cattle, sheep, swine, or other animals, for a longer period than twenty-eight consecutive hours, without unloading them for rest, water, and feeding, for at least five consecutive hours, unless prevented from unloading by storm or other accidental cause. The hours in transit on connecting roads are to be taken into the account. If such unloaded animals are not properly fed and watered by their owner, the transporter shall care for them, and have a lien for the service. Willful failure to comply with the foregoing provisions exposes the offender to a penalty of $100 to $500. An exception is made in favor of cars and boats in which the animals have proper food, water, space, and opportunity to rest. Penalties are recoverable by civil action in the name of the United States, in the circuit or district court held within the district where the violation was committed, or the person or corporation resides or carries on business.2 The lien is enforceable by petition filed in the district court within the district where it attached, or the owner or custodian of the property resides. The court is to issue process suited to the case for the collection of the debt, costs, penalties, and charges. 3 L. With, together with; along with; in connection with; wholly. In compounding words, the m remains before b, p, m; assimilates before l, n, r; changes into n before other consonants; is rejected before a vowel or h. 1 Jones, Bailm. 8; Story, Bailm. § 18; 8 Barb. 378; 34 La. An. 1129. 24 Bl. Com. 339; 6 Cal. 232; 2 Sumn. 67. 3 Webster's Dict. Skeat's Etym. Dict. Waltham Bank v. Wright, 8 Allen, 122 (1864). Johnson v. Perley, 2 Ν. Η. 57 (1819). Keeran v. Griffith, 34 Cal. 581 (1868); 13 Ired. L. 37; 29 Kan. 596. 8 Oursler v. Baltimore, &c. R. Co., 60 Md. 367 (1883).
CUMmain
Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867
(408) Lat. (prep.) With. fra. See inCUM, Quum. Lat. (adv.) When; whereas, Fleta, lib. 2, c. 64. Quod cum; that whereas. Reg. Orig. passim. See infra, and Quum.
CUMmain
Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928
A parliament held at Coventry, 38 Henry VI., wherein Edward. Earl of March (afterwards Edward IV.), and many of the chief nobility were attainted. was so called; but the acts then passed were annulled by the succeeding parlia- ment. Jacob.
cumnoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
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Semen. | Female ejaculatory discharge. | An ejaculation.
cumverb
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
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To have an orgasm, to feel the sensation of an orgasm. | To ejaculate. | Eye dialect spelling of come (“move from further to nearer; arrive”).
cumnoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC 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.
Abbreviation of cubic metre.

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