DEPONERE - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

DEPONEREAuthored

The Law Mind • 759 words

Definition

A Latin term from the civil law meaning "to put down" or "to lay down." In legal usage, *deponere* referred to the physical act of placing documents or sacred objects before a judicial tribunal as a precondition to proceeding with litigation. The term carried both a literal and a ceremonial sense: courts were not to enter upon the trial of causes unless the holy Scriptures had first been laid down before the judgment seat, where they were to remain throughout the proceedings. This requirement reflects the fusion of religious solemnity and judicial formality characteristic of late Roman imperial practice.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): In general Latin, *deponere* means to put aside, lay down, or deposit. It is the root of English words such as "depose," "deposit," and "deponent."

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Not separately defined as an English entry; recognized as a Latin root contributing to "deponent," "depose," and related English terms.

The gap between the common root meaning and its legal application is instructive. Ordinary usage suggests merely setting something aside. The civil law usage was more precise and obligatory: *deponere* described a formal, ceremonial placement of the Scriptures before the tribunal, a required ritual act that conditioned the court's jurisdiction to proceed. The modern descendants of this root — "depose," "deponent," "deposition" — have largely shed this ceremonial dimension in favor of testimonial ones.

Common Confusion

Researchers encountering *deponere* in historical sources should not conflate it with *deponere* in the testimonial sense that gives us "deponent" (one who depones, or gives sworn testimony). The two usages share a Latin root but describe distinct acts. The Burrill entry concerns the placement of physical objects before the court, not the giving of evidence. Conflation is easy and common, particularly when working in sources that use "depose," "deponent," and *deponere* in close proximity.

Why It Matters in Research

This term will appear almost exclusively in civil law sources — Roman law texts, canon law materials, and early modern treatises drawing on the Corpus Juris Civilis. Researchers working in medieval ecclesiastical court records or late antique Roman legal texts are the most likely to encounter it. The passage cited in Burrill draws from the Codex Justinianus, and researchers following this term should go directly to that source rather than expecting much elaboration in English common law materials, where the term does not appear as a term of art.

The word's primary research value is philological and contextual: it illuminates the ceremonial structure of late Roman judicial proceedings, where the presence of sacred Scripture served as an oath-anchor for the entire proceeding, not merely for individual witnesses. Understanding *deponere* in this context helps researchers interpret procedural prerequisites in Roman and canon law courts that have no direct analogue in the common law tradition.

The term also anchors a family of related Latin legal words. Tracing *deponere* through its derivatives helps researchers understand the conceptual lineage connecting document deposit, sworn testimony, and judicial formality across the civil law tradition into early modern practice.

Historical Dictionary Support

Burrill is the primary source in the Law Mind corpus for this term, and his entry is concise but informative. He provides the Latin passage from the Codex Justinianus (Cod. 3.1.14) and correctly identifies the requirement that the Scriptures be laid before the judgment seat before trial could commence. This reflects standard late Roman practice under Justinian's reforms, which sought to solemnize judicial proceedings through the physical presence of sacred texts.

Burrill does not elaborate on how widely the term appeared in practice outside this specific requirement, and no other Law Mind shelf sources appear to treat *deponere* as an independent term of art. Researchers should treat the Burrill entry as a pointer toward the Codex itself rather than a complete account. The entry is valuable for what it confirms — the ceremonial-legal meaning — but researchers needing depth will need to move from Burrill to the civil law primary sources directly.

Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Civil Law; Deposition; Roman Law Procedure

DEPONEREmain

Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867

Lat. [from de, off or down, and ponere, to put, place or lay.] In the civil law. To put down; to lay down. Non aliter litium primordium accipere, nisi prius ante sedem judicialem sacrosanctæ deponantur scripturæ, et hæ permaneant, &c.; shall not enter on the trial of causes, unless the holy Scriptures be first laid down before the judgment-seat, and these shall remain, &c. Cod. 31. 14. See Id. 2. 59. 2, pr. To deposit; to entrust a thing to another to keep. Dig. 16. 3. 1. 14. See Depositum. To testify; to state on oath; to depose. Nisi prius, tactis sacrosanctis scripturis, de- L. Lat. [from de, down, and ponere, to put or lay.] In old English law. To put down; to put away; to pull down; to remove. Omnes kidelli de cœtero deponantur penitus per Tamisiam et Medweiam; all kidels shall be henceforth wholly removed throughout the Thames and the Medway. Mag. Cart. 9 Hen. III. c. 23. In old practice. To put or lay down; to depose. See Depose. To state under oath. Bract. fol. 293. Applied by Bracton to the delivery of the verdict of a jury. Qui veritatem rei deponant ex integro; who shall depose the truth of the matter anew. Id. ibid. The word occurs very frequently in this sense in the canon law. Durand. Spec. Juris, lib. 1, tit. De teste. To make oath; to swear. In the case of Knight v. Rushwood, the defendant assumed to the plaintiff that if he and two witnesses would deponere before the Mayor of Lincoln, that a certain obligation was read as an obligation of 2007. he would pay it. Whereupon the plaintiff, with two others, came before the Mayor of Lincoln, and there deposed upon a book accordingly, and hereupon brought the action. It was objected on argument, that deponere was a word uncertain, for deponere was, to lay down; but it was held certain enough, for to depose or lay down are, in truth, synonyma et tantamount. Cro. Eliz. 469, 470. See 1 Stra. 557, 561, arg.