Definition
A Latin term from Roman civil law meaning, broadly, to send away, discharge, or dismiss. In legal usage, *dimittere* carries distinct meanings depending on context:
1. To release a person from legal authority or power — most commonly, to emancipate a son from paternal power (*patria potestas*), thereby severing the legal subordination of the child to the father.
2. To repudiate or dismiss a wife — to dissolve the marital bond by sending away one's spouse, the Roman equivalent of divorce by unilateral act of the husband.
3. To release a person from a debt or obligation — to discharge what is owed, extinguishing the legal claim.
4. In old English law, to part with, dismiss, or withdraw — including the reflexive form *dimittere se*, meaning to withdraw or dismiss oneself from a position, place, or proceeding.
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Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Not in general modern English use. The term survives in ecclesiastical and formal Latin contexts, occasionally in phrases like *dimissory* (as in letters dimissory).
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Not entered as a standalone English term. Webster's treats related English derivatives (*dimissory*, *dismiss*) rather than the Latin root directly.
Editorial note: *Dimittere* is pure legal and ecclesiastical Latin with no independent life in ordinary English. Researchers encountering it in translated sources should not rely on the English word "dismiss" — which today implies a procedural act in litigation — to capture the Roman concept. The legal meanings run deeper: emancipation from paternal authority and repudiation of a spouse involve fundamental changes in personal legal status, not mere procedural removal.
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Common Confusion
*Dimittere* in the sense of discharging a debt (*dimitti debito*) should not be confused with novation or payment. The term signals release or remission — the obligation is extinguished by act of the creditor — not satisfaction by performance. Similarly, *dimittere uxorem* (repudiation of a wife) reflects a Roman unilateral act and should not be read through the lens of modern divorce, which requires judicial process. Researchers working in ecclesiastical law sources should note that *dimissory letters* (litterae dimissoriae) derive from this root but carry their own distinct technical meaning in canon law.
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Why It Matters in Research
*Dimittere* appears almost exclusively in Roman law sources, medieval Latin legal texts, and works of civil law scholarship translated into English. Researchers will encounter it most frequently in:
- Translations of Justinian's *Institutes* and *Digest*, particularly in passages on *patria potestas* and emancipation.
- Civil law treatises dealing with family relations, personal status, and the law of obligations.
- Old English legal documents and Year Books where Latin remained the drafting language, particularly in contexts involving dismissal from office, surrender of tenancy, or withdrawal from proceedings.
The principal research trap is treating *dimittere* as a synonym for the modern procedural concept of dismissal. In Roman and early English sources, the word marks a substantive legal event — a change in status, a severing of relationship, a release from obligation — rather than a court's procedural order ending a case. Conflating these meanings will produce misreadings, particularly in sources dealing with paternal authority or marital dissolution.
The reflexive form *dimittere se* in English sources deserves particular attention: it can signal voluntary withdrawal from a position or proceeding, which may have strategic or interpretive significance in the source being examined.
Burrill is the primary English-language dictionary source for this term in the Law Mind corpus. Researchers needing fuller treatment of the Roman law context should proceed to civil law encyclopedias and commentaries on Justinian's *Institutes*.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the most complete entry for *dimittere* in the Law Mind corpus, drawing explicitly on Justinian's *Institutes* (1.12.7, 1.12.10) for the emancipation sense and on Calvinus's *Lexicon Juridicum* for the debt-release and wife-repudiation senses. These source citations are reliable anchors: the *Institutes* passages address the formal modes of emancipation from *patria potestas*, and Calvinus is a standard early modern civil law lexicon.
Burrill treats the term's English law application briefly, noting the senses of parting with, dismissing, and the reflexive withdrawal form. This reflects the standard pattern of Latin terms migrating from Roman civil law into medieval English legal drafting with meanings somewhat adapted to English context.
No significant divergence appears across historical sources on the core meanings. The primary gap in historical dictionary coverage is the absence of extended treatment of *dimittere* in specifically ecclesiastical contexts, where the term intersects with canon law on marriage dissolution and the issuance of dimissory letters — a dimension Burrill does not develop.
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Jurisdictional Note
As a term of Roman civil law, *dimittere* has no jurisdiction-specific modern application. Its relevance today is primarily interpretive and historical — appearing in sources governed by civil law tradition (including Scotland, Louisiana, Quebec, and South African law) more often than in common law jurisdictions. Researchers working in mixed legal systems should be alert to its presence in foundational texts.
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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Emancipation (Roman Law); Patria Potestas; Repudiation; Letters Dimissory
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