Definition
A writ of Latin origin directing that the tenor — that is, the full and exact content — of a record be sent to a designated court or official, or that it be exemplified (officially certified and sealed) under the great seal. The writ served as a formal mechanism for transmitting an authenticated copy of a record from one court or registry to another, or for producing a certified exemplification suitable for use as evidence in subsequent proceedings.
The phrase translates literally as "for sending the tenor of the record." The operative concept is the tenor: not a summary or abstract, but an exact transcription preserving every word, figure, and clause of the original instrument or proceeding.
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Common Confusion
Researchers sometimes conflate de mittendo tenorem re with other record-transmission writs, particularly certiorari. The distinction matters: certiorari commands that the record itself (or its return) be sent to a superior court for review, typically for supervisory or appellate purposes. De mittendo tenorem re was aimed more narrowly at obtaining an exemplified copy — a certified duplicate — for use in evidence or in a distinct proceeding, without necessarily invoking supervisory jurisdiction over the originating court. The writ also differs from a writ of certiorari in that it did not inherently transfer jurisdiction; it transferred documentation.
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Why It Matters in Research
This is an obsolete common law writ with narrow but specific relevance to historical legal practice. Researchers working in pre-nineteenth-century English legal records, chancery practice, or early American court records may encounter it in writs registers or procedural indices, but it will not appear in modern pleading or procedure.
The primary research trap is mistaking the writ for a broad record-transfer or appellate device. It was procedurally specific: the writ directed production of a tenor, not the original, and its authentication mechanism — exemplification under the great seal — carried evidentiary significance that a simple certified copy might not have replicated in later practice.
The Registrum Brevium (Reg. Orig. 220 b), cited by both source dictionaries, is the authoritative place of origin for this writ's form. Researchers tracing the formal language of the writ or its procedural requirements should consult that source directly. The Registrum Brevium is a printed compilation of original writs used in English common law practice and remains a foundational text for understanding writs of this period.
Law Mind corpus users researching exemplification practice, the authentication of records in historical proceedings, or the mechanics of inter-court document transmission will find this writ's conceptual structure helpful context even where the specific writ form has fallen away. The underlying problem it solved — how to get an authenticated copy of a court record from one forum to another — persists in modern practice through entirely different procedural mechanisms.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Both Rapalje & Lawrence and Burrill's Law Dictionary provide nearly identical entries: each defines the writ as directed to send the tenor of a record or to exemplify it under the great seal, and each cites Reg. Orig. 220 b as authority. Neither entry elaborates on procedural context, conditions for issuance, or the distinction between sending a tenor and producing an exemplification — the two functions the writ apparently served may have been understood as alternatives or sequential steps, but the dictionaries do not resolve this.
The brevity of both entries reflects the writ's status even at the time of compilation: it was a recognized form, recorded in the writ registers, but not a term requiring extended doctrinal treatment. Neither dictionary provides a historical range of use, commentary on its frequency in practice, or any indication of when it fell into disuse.
What historical dictionaries miss entirely is the evidentiary significance of exemplification under the great seal — a point that would have been well understood by practitioners of the period but is nowhere explained in these entries.
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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Writs; Exemplification; Certiorari (Historical Forms)
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