Definition
In old European law, to discharge or unload — as in the unloading of a wagon or other conveyance. The term appears in early medieval legal sources and carries a narrow, physical meaning: the act of relieving a vehicle or vessel of its load. It is not a term of modern legal practice and survives only in historical and comparative legal literature.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering DISCARGARE will find it almost exclusively in medieval European legal texts and in glossaries appended to early legal compilations. Its practical significance lies in property and commerce disputes under early Germanic law, where the act of loading and unloading goods could carry legal consequences — including liability for damage to cargo, obligations between carrier and owner, or the moment at which possession formally transferred.
The term appears in the Lex Salica (Salic Law), the Frankish legal code compiled in the late fifth and early sixth centuries, making it a useful data point for researchers tracing the legal regulation of trade and transport in the early medieval period. Cross-referencing with Spelman's glossary — the source cited by Burrill — is advisable, as Spelman's Glossarium Archaeologicum remains one of the primary reference points for archaic Latin and Law Latin terms drawn from early European sources.
Researchers working in the Law Mind corpus should treat DISCARGARE as a lexical artifact rather than an operative term. It will not appear in common law cases or modern statutory materials. Its relevance is comparative and historical: situating early European commercial and property concepts within a broader legal tradition.
Historical Dictionary Support
All three source dictionaries agree on the core definition — to discharge or unload, as a wagon — and all three place the term squarely in "old European law." Burrill's entry is the most substantive, identifying the specific source as Spelman and citing the Lex Salica, title 29, section 21. Black's first and second editions are essentially derivative of Burrill on this point, with the second edition entry appearing fragmentary in transmission (the phrase "man. In old European law. Spel-" suggests a truncated typesetting artifact rather than substantive content).
None of the historical dictionaries elaborate on the legal consequences attached to the act of discargare — they treat it as a vocabulary item rather than a doctrine. Researchers should not assume the dictionaries have exhausted the term's legal context; the Salic Law passage cited by Burrill rewards direct consultation for anyone working on early Frankish property or transport law.