Definition
A Latin writ of medieval English common law origin meaning, literally, "of exemplification." De exemplificatione was a writ granted to a party seeking an official certified copy — an exemplification — of an original document held in a court or public record. The writ commanded the appropriate officer to produce or authenticate a formal copy of the original, giving that copy the same legal standing as the record itself. It functioned as a procedural mechanism to bring certified documentary evidence into legal proceedings when the original could not or should not be removed from its official custody.
Common Language
This section is omitted. De exemplificatione is pure legal Latin with no meaningful counterpart in ordinary English usage. The word "exemplification" carries a generic English meaning (the act of illustrating by example), but that meaning bears no useful relationship to the writ's legal function. Researchers are better served by the direct legal explanation above.
Why It Matters in Research
Structural pattern: straightforward single-meaning historical term. De exemplificatione is a writ of purely historical significance — it has no modern procedural equivalent by that name, having been superseded by statutory and rule-based mechanisms for obtaining certified copies of records.
Researchers encountering de exemplificatione in historical materials should recognize several navigational points:
First, the writ belongs to the family of prerogative and auxiliary writs that populated the Register of Original Writs (Registrum Brevium Originalium), which is the primary source cited in every historical dictionary entry for this term. Citations to "Reg. Orig." throughout these sources refer to that register, not to any enacted statute. Researchers working in pre-nineteenth-century English common law materials will need access to editions of the Registrum Brevium to trace the writ's procedural history.
Second, the writ is closely related to, but distinct from, the practice of exemplification itself. Exemplification — the certified copying of a record — could occur through multiple procedural pathways. De exemplificatione was the writ that initiated or compelled that process when a party had no voluntary cooperation from the record-keeper.
Third, in American legal research, de exemplificatione has virtually no post-colonial footprint. The writ-based system from which it descended was replaced in American jurisdictions by statutory provisions governing certified copies, court records, and authentication — now largely codified in evidence rules (such as provisions governing self-authenticating documents) and administrative records law. A researcher finding this term in an American legal source is almost certainly reading a work of comparative, historical, or English common law commentary.
Fourth, the writ should not be confused with letters of administration or letters patent, which are also issued under the authority of a court or royal officer but serve fundamentally different purposes.
Historical Dictionary Support
All three dictionary sources converge on the same core definition: de exemplificatione is a writ granted to obtain the exemplification of an original. The uniformity across Black's first and second editions and Rapalje & Lawrence reflects the writ's narrow, settled function — there was no doctrinal controversy about what it did.
The only variation among the sources is a minor textual one in the folio citation to the Registrum Brevium Originalium. Black's first edition cites "Reg. Orig. 290b," Rapalje & Lawrence cites "Reg. Orig. 290 b," and Black's second edition cites "Reg. Orig. 290d." This small discrepancy likely reflects transcription variation across different printed editions of the Register or different edition folios, rather than any substantive disagreement. Researchers relying on a specific folio reference should verify against the edition of the Registrum in hand.
Black's first edition includes a slightly expanded note referencing related contexts — alimony, estovers, and exoneration of suit — that does not appear in the other sources. These appear to be parenthetical examples of the broader procedural landscape in which authenticated copies of originals might be sought, rather than defining characteristics of the writ itself. The note cites Blackstone's Commentaries (1 Bl. Comm. 441) and 1 Levinz's Reports (1 Lev. 6) for those associated contexts.
What the historical sources collectively omit is any discussion of how the writ was actually litigated, what courts had jurisdiction to issue it, or what remedies were available if compliance was refused. This is typical of writ entries in this genre of legal dictionary — they identify and define without procedural elaboration.
Jurisdictional Note
De exemplificatione as a named writ is a feature of English common law and does not appear as a live procedural mechanism in any American jurisdiction. Modern American courts address the subject matter through statutory and rule-based frameworks governing certified copies and record authentication. Researchers in English legal history should consult materials from the common law courts of Westminster and the Registrum Brevium for primary source context.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
No Law Mind Encyclopedia entry directly addresses this writ or its procedural context. The matched entries (de facto parent doctrine, defective incorporation, standards of appellate review) share the Latin prefix "de" but are substantively unrelated. No cross-reference is warranted.