Definition
An archaic Law French term meaning to impeach — that is, to accuse, hinder, or obstruct. In its legal sense, *empescher* carried the procedural meaning of lodging a formal accusation or challenge against a person or proceeding, corresponding directly to the English legal concept of impeachment as it was understood in early common law practice.
Common Confusion
EMPESCHER vs. IMPEACH: These terms are functionally identical in meaning — *empescher* is simply the Law French root from which the English legal term "impeach" derives. Researchers encountering *empescher* in historical sources should treat it as an exact equivalent of impeach in context. The confusion arises when researchers unfamiliar with Law French encounter the term and fail to recognize the connection, or when they import the narrow modern political meaning of impeachment (removal of a government official) onto a term that, in its original legal setting, had broader application including challenges to witnesses, attaint of jurors, and obstruction-style accusations.
Why It Matters in Research
This term appears almost exclusively in pre-modern legal sources written in or drawing from Law French, the hybrid legal dialect used in English common law texts from roughly the Norman Conquest through the seventeenth century. Researchers working with Year Books, early plea rolls, or treatises from that period may encounter *empescher* where later sources would use "impeach" or "challenge."
The primary research trap is anachronism: do not read modern constitutional impeachment doctrine back onto early uses of this term. When *empescher* or its cognates appear in historical sources, the operative meaning is more likely a procedural challenge — of a witness, a verdict, a juror, or a title — than anything resembling the parliamentary or constitutional removal process that dominates modern usage.
Because Burrill's entry is a simple cross-reference to "Impeach," the substantive research work lies in that parent entry. Any source containing *empescher* should be read in conjunction with the full Law French and early common law treatment of impeachment in its procedural senses.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary disposes of *empescher* in a single line: "L. Fr. To impeach. L. Fr. Dict. See Impeach." This brevity is itself informative — Burrill treats the term as a transparent Law French equivalent requiring no independent elaboration, directing researchers immediately to the English term. No divergence or nuance is offered, which accurately reflects the term's status as a direct linguistic ancestor rather than a concept with an independent legal career.
Historical dictionaries generally do not linger on Law French terms that mapped cleanly onto English successors. Researchers should not expect to find substantive doctrinal treatment of *empescher* as a standalone entry in most sources; the intellectual content lives under "Impeach" and its variants.
Jurisdictional Note
As a Law French term, *empescher* belongs to the English common law tradition and its early American inheritors. It carries no independent presence in civil law jurisdictions or in modern statutory frameworks anywhere.