Definition
Entrelignure is an archaic Law French term with two distinct recorded meanings: (1) an interlineation — that is, writing inserted between the existing lines of a document — and (2) an intruder or interloper. The documentary sense is the more legally significant of the two. An interlineation in a legal instrument raised questions about authenticity, alteration, and the validity of the document as a whole, particularly in the contexts of wills, deeds, and court records.
Common Confusion
The dual meaning recorded in Burrill's — interlineation on one hand, intruder on the other — is unusual and potentially misleading. Researchers encountering the term in a historical source should use context to determine which sense is intended. A document context almost certainly invokes the interlineation meaning; a pleading or narrative context may invoke the intruder sense. The connection between the two meanings is likely etymological (something inserted where it does not belong), but a researcher should not assume one meaning when the other may apply.
Why It Matters in Research
Entrelignure will appear almost exclusively in pre-modern English legal materials drawing on the Law French vocabulary that dominated English legal writing from the Norman Conquest through the seventeenth century. By the time Law French was formally abolished as a language of pleading in England (1731), terms like entrelignure had largely been displaced by their English or Latin equivalents — interlineation being the dominant surviving term.
Researchers working in medieval or early modern English legal records, particularly in ecclesiastical courts, chancery proceedings, or Prerogative Court probate records, may encounter this term in disputes over the authenticity of wills or deeds. The presence of an interlineation in a will or deed was a recognized ground for challenging the instrument's validity, and the term could appear in both the complaint framing the challenge and in the court's description of the defect.
The intruder meaning, while secondary, could surface in real property disputes or trespass actions from the same period. Conflating the two senses in a transcript or abstract would produce a significant misreading.
Because this term does not appear in most English legal dictionaries and is recorded only in specialized Law French glossaries, researchers relying on general legal reference works will find little guidance. Burrill's entry, sparse as it is, represents one of the few accessible anchors in the modern reference literature.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary gives the definition in compressed form: "L. Fr. Interlineation. Kelham. An intruder or Las—" The entry appears to be incomplete as recorded, cutting off mid-phrase in the intruder definition. The attribution to Kelham points to Robert Kelham's Dictionary of the Norman or Old French Language (1779), which remains a primary reference for Law French vocabulary. Researchers who need to pursue this term further should consult Kelham directly rather than relying on Burrill's truncated reproduction.
No other major historical legal dictionary in the standard reference corpus — not Jacob's Law Dictionary, not Bouvier, not Black's in its early editions — appears to carry an entry for entrelignure, reflecting its highly specialized and archaic character. This means Burrill's is likely the sole accessible secondary-source definition for most researchers, and the Kelham citation is the essential next step for anyone needing a fuller treatment.
Jurisdictional Note
This term belongs to the Law French stratum of English legal vocabulary and has no American legal history of independent use. Researchers encountering it will almost invariably be working in English historical materials.