Definition
A writ of perambulation. De perambulatione facienda (Latin: "for making a perambulation") was a common law writ that issued to ascertain and fix uncertain or disputed boundaries between lordships, manors, or towns. The writ directed that the boundaries be established by physically walking the disputed lines — literally perambulating, or traversing on foot, the contested ground — with the participation of local parties and officers charged with observing and recording where the true limits lay.
The writ was a procedural mechanism for resolving boundary uncertainty before it ripened into a full property dispute. It was not primarily a remedy for a specific wrong but rather an inquisitorial or administrative tool for making territorial limits legally definite.
Why It Matters in Research
This is a writ of narrow historical application and will appear almost exclusively in pre-modern English sources — English common law registers, Year Books, and treatises on original writs. Researchers encountering this term are almost certainly working in late medieval or early modern English legal materials, not American common law sources.
The Registrum Omnium Brevium (Reg. Orig.) is the principal historical authority for this writ's form, and Rapalje & Lawrence's reference to Reg. Orig. 208 is the key citation trail. Researchers should treat that register reference as the anchor for any further archival or manuscript work.
The procedural concept — resolving boundary disputes through formal physical traversal of land — persisted in modified forms well into the early modern period in both English and American practice. Early American land grant records and colonial-era boundary surveys sometimes reflect this tradition, though the formal writ as such did not transplant into American practice in any durable way. Researchers working on early American land disputes or colonial boundary conflicts may find the concept useful as background even when the writ itself is not cited.
A significant research trap: the Rapalje & Lawrence entry as preserved is damaged or truncated, bleeding immediately into a separate entry (De Prærogativa Regis) without completing the definition of de perambulatione facienda. This means the available secondary-source definition is incomplete. Researchers relying on this dictionary alone will have a partial record and should not treat the Rapalje & Lawrence summary as exhaustive. The Registrum Omnium Brevium and Fitzherbert's Natura Brevium are the appropriate primary sources for the full writ form.
This term belongs to the family of boundary and perambulation writs that also includes writs related to disseisin and land title. Note that Rapalje & Lawrence's truncated entry references a disseisor being disseised a second time — this fragment appears to belong to a distinct writ and should not be read as part of the definition of de perambulatione facienda. The bleed-over is a copyist or typesetting artifact in the dictionary, not a substantive connection.
Historical Dictionary Support
Rapalje & Lawrence is the sole source dictionary available for this entry. Their definition is concise: a writ to ascertain disputed or doubtful boundaries of lordships or towns, accomplished by walking the land. The entry is characteristically spare, in keeping with Rapalje & Lawrence's compressed style for archaic and obsolete writs.
The definition is consistent with the broader understanding of perambulation in English legal history. Perambulation as a formal legal act — the physical traversal of boundaries by authorized persons — was a recognized procedure in English land law, used both in royal administration and private boundary settlement. The writ gave this practice formal legal sanction and enforceability.
What the historical dictionary does not provide: any discussion of who could bring the writ, what proof was required, what officers executed it, or how the results were recorded and given legal effect. Researchers needing that procedural depth must consult the Registrum and Fitzherbert directly.
Jurisdictional Note
This writ is exclusively English common law in origin and has no recognized American equivalent. American land boundary disputes were resolved through different mechanisms — actions of ejectment, trespass, equity suits for title — and the formal writ of perambulation did not take root in colonial or early national American practice.