Definition
An archaic Law French term with two related senses. First, "dit" means "said" — functioning as a particle in legal phrases to identify or reference a named person or thing previously mentioned. Second, following Kelham's usage, it carries the sense of a word or decree. The term is essentially obsolete in modern legal writing and survives only in historical French-derived legal formulas, most notably in the construction "il est dit" (it is said, or it is decreed).
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To stop up or block an opening; to close. Also used in Scots English in the sense of closing or plugging.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): A word; a decree (marked obsolete). Also: a ditty or song (obsolete).
The legal and common English histories of this word run on entirely separate tracks. The legal use derives from Law French "dit" as a past participle of "dire" (to say), with no relation to the Scots/dialectal English verb meaning to block or stop. A researcher encountering "dit" in a historical legal document should not read any sense of obstruction or closure into the term; the meaning is purely "said" or, in formulaic contexts, "decreed."
Common Confusion
"Dit" is easily overlooked or misread in historical legal manuscripts as a preposition, article, or noise word rather than a legally operative term. In Law French documents, "le dit" or "la dite" functions as a definite reference marker — roughly equivalent to "the said" or "the aforesaid" in formal English legal drafting. Researchers familiar with English legal style may recognize the function without recognizing the word itself. "Dit" should not be confused with "dit" appearing in unrelated Scots or dialectal English contexts, nor with the English word "dit" meaning a ditty or short composition, which is a wholly different term.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in Anglo-Norman legal records, Year Books, or early English plea rolls will encounter "dit" and its compounds frequently. The key navigational point is that "dit" almost never stands alone as a substantive legal term — it functions as a relational particle connecting a named party or prior reference to what follows. When you see "le dit" before a name, it signals "the said [party]" and is functioning as an anaphor, not as an independent legal concept.
The phrase "il est dit" is the more legally substantive construction, where "dit" shades from "said" into "decreed" or "ordered" — effectively carrying enacting force in the formulaic language of early French-language judgments and ordinances. Conflating the anaphoric use with the enacting use is a common reading error in archival work.
Because Law French legal terminology is poorly indexed in most modern finding aids, researchers tracing this term in the Law Mind corpus should search under compound phrases ("il est dit," "le dit," "la dite") rather than the bare term. Burrill's brief entry points toward Kelham's Glossary of Norman and Old French Law Terms as the primary authority; researchers needing fuller treatment should consult Kelham directly.
The term has no ongoing statutory or judicial life in common law jurisdictions and will not appear in modern case law except in historical quotation.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's entry is minimal: it identifies the Law French derivation from "dire," gives the two senses (said; a word or a decree), and delegates to Kelham. This brevity is appropriate — "dit" is a function word in legal French, not a term of art requiring extended definition. No other major historical legal dictionaries (Jacob, Tomlin, Black's early editions) give "dit" a standalone entry, which confirms that it was understood primarily as a particle within fixed phrases rather than as an independent legal term. Webster's 1913 corroborates the "word or decree" sense while flagging it as obsolete, suggesting the term had already passed out of active English usage by the nineteenth century.