Definition
Latin. Literally, "with the appurtenances." A formulaic phrase used in Latin-language conveyances and grants to indicate that the property transferred carries with it all appurtenant rights, privileges, and interests belonging to it. The phrase functions as a term of art in real property instruments, signaling that the grantee receives not only the principal subject matter of the conveyance but also everything legally incident or annexed to it — easements, common rights, accessory structures, and other appurtenances that pass with the land.
The phrase appears most prominently in medieval and early modern conveyancing forms drafted in Latin, where it operated as a standard conclusion or addendum to the description of the granted estate.
Common Confusion
Cum pertinentiis is often treated as interchangeable with a grant "with the appurtenances" in English-language instruments, and functionally they accomplish the same result. The distinction worth noting is that, even without the phrase, most appurtenances pass by operation of law with the principal grant. Burrill's notes the rule directly: the incident, accessory, appendant, and regardant will in most cases pass by the grant of the principal without the words cum pertinentiis — but not vice versa. The phrase thus adds breadth of expression rather than unique legal effect in the majority of cases, though its absence could historically create ambiguity in disputes over what passed with the grant.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering this phrase will almost exclusively find it in pre-modern property records, Latin pleading forms, and treatise discussions of conveyancing practice rooted in the common law of England. Several research considerations apply:
First, temporal range. The phrase belongs to an era of Latin-language legal drafting. After the Statute of Pleadings (1362) and, more decisively, after the shift to English-language conveyancing that accelerated through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, cum pertinentiis retreats into formulaic appendages and learned treatise discussion rather than active drafting practice. When researchers see it in primary sources, it is a reliable signal they are working with medieval or early modern instruments, or with later scholarly annotation of those instruments.
Second, the Bracton citation. Both Black's editions and Burrill's anchor this phrase to Bracton's De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae. Burrill's cites folio 73b; Black's first edition gives folio 736 and the second edition folio 730 — a discrepancy likely attributable to differing editions or printing variants of Bracton rather than error on either dictionary's part. Researchers using the Bracton citations should verify against the edition in hand. Burrill's also cites Fleta, a late-thirteenth-century treatise closely derived from Bracton, and Townsend's Pleadings — useful for tracing how the formula migrated from doctrinal writing into pleading forms.
Third, the rule it encodes. The substantive legal principle embedded in cum pertinentiis — that appurtenances pass with the principal, but not the reverse — remains alive in modern property law even though the Latin phrase has vanished from active use. Researchers tracing the doctrine of appurtenant easements, appurtenant covenants, or the law of fixtures may find that historical discussions of cum pertinentiis are the conceptual precursor to modern treatment of those topics.
Fourth, corpus connections. In the Law Mind corpus, this phrase surfaces in property law materials, conveyancing treatises, and pleading form books. Cross-referencing entries for APPURTENANCE, GRANT, and CONVEYANCE will situate cum pertinentiis within the broader architecture of how property interests were transferred and described.
Historical Dictionary Support
The three source dictionaries are in full agreement on the core definition — all give "with the appurtenances" — and all trace the phrase to Bracton. Burrill's is by far the most substantive, adding the Fleta citation, the Townsend pleading form reference, and the critical explanatory sentence on when appurtenances pass without the phrase. Black's (both editions) treats the entry as a brief translation gloss, which is appropriate given how settled the phrase's meaning is, but researchers relying solely on Black's will miss the important qualification Burrill's preserves. No historical dictionary entry covers what "appurtenances" itself encompasses with any granularity — that content lives in the APPURTENANCE entry, which should be consulted alongside this one.
Jurisdictional Note
As a Latin conveyancing formula, cum pertinentiis is rooted in English common law and travels with that tradition into American property law. It carries no distinct American jurisdictional variation; its practical relevance is historical and doctrinal rather than jurisdiction-specific.