Definition
Latin: "under that name" or "by that appellation." Eo nomine means that something is designated, described, or conveyed by a specific name — that the name itself is the operative identifier. The phrase appears most often in contexts where it matters whether a thing was transferred, classified, or included under a particular designation as opposed to being caught by a general description or implied inclusion.
In property and commercial contexts, the phrase signals that an item passed or was intended to pass under its explicit name rather than by inference. In statutory and regulatory interpretation, eo nomine describes coverage that attaches because a thing is called by the precise name used in the text — as opposed to coverage that arises from a thing falling within a broader category or general description.
Common Language
Wiktionary: "Under that name; that is called thus; explicitly."
The common usage is close to the legal meaning but strips out the interpretive weight the phrase carries in legal contexts. In ordinary usage, eo nomine is simply a way of saying "by that specific name." In law, the phrase does more work: it signals a mode of legal classification or conveyance that depends on explicit nomination, as distinct from inclusion by implication, analogy, or genus. The distinction matters most when coverage or transfer turns on whether something was named or merely encompassed.
Common Confusion
Eo nomine is sometimes loosely treated as equivalent to "expressly" or "specifically," but the terms are not identical. "Express" language addresses clarity of intent; eo nomine addresses the operative name used. A thing may be expressly included by general description without being included eo nomine. The distinction surfaces most sharply in customs and tariff law, where goods may be dutiable under a specific named category (eo nomine) or under a residual or basket category — two different modes of classification with different legal consequences.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encounter eo nomine most frequently in three contexts, each with its own interpretive stakes:
First, in older property and civil law sources, the phrase appears in discussions of delivery and transfer — whether a thing was handed over under a specific name matters to whether title or rights properly passed. The Institutes passage cited repeatedly in the historical dictionaries (Inst. 2, 1, 43) is the anchor for this usage.
Second, in statutory interpretation, eo nomine classification is a recognized principle: a statute or regulation that names a thing specifically controls over a general provision, and a thing included eo nomine carries the legal consequences attached to that name without need for further inference. This usage is most developed in customs, tariff, and tax law, where goods named in a schedule are treated as covered eo nomine regardless of whether they would also fall under a broader category.
Third, in reading historical legal texts, researchers should recognize that eo nomine appears as a common phrase of civil law origin that later common law writers borrowed freely. Its meaning is stable, but its context is not — the same phrase appears in property law, contract law, and statutory construction across centuries. When encountered in a historical source, note the context before applying modern statutory-interpretation framing.
One navigational trap: the historical dictionaries cluster eo nomine with the related maxims eodem ligamine quo ligatum est dissolvitur and eodem modo quo quid constituitur, dissolvitur. These are separate maxims about the symmetry of formation and dissolution. They share Latin roots and appear in the same dictionary entries, but they are not definitions or elaborations of eo nomine — they are neighboring entries. Researchers scanning for eo nomine in Rapalje & Lawrence or either edition of Black's should not conflate the surrounding maxims with the term itself.
Historical Dictionary Support
All four source dictionaries are in close agreement on the core definition: "under that name; by that appellation." Burrill is the most precise, limiting the entry cleanly to definition and the Institutes citation. Both editions of Black's and Rapalje & Lawrence append neighboring maxims (eodem ligamine, eodem modo), which creates mild confusion in that these appear as continuations of the eo nomine entry rather than separate entries — an artifact of the formatting conventions of 19th-century legal dictionaries rather than any substantive connection.
None of the historical sources develop the statutory interpretation dimension of eo nomine, which is the context where the phrase does the most work in modern legal research. The historical dictionaries treat it as a civil law phrase of modest scope; the more consequential applications in customs, tariff, and regulatory classification emerged later through judicial development and are not reflected in these sources. Researchers relying solely on the historical dictionary definitions will have an accurate but incomplete picture.
Jurisdictional Note
The eo nomine principle in statutory classification has been most extensively developed in federal customs and tariff law through decisions of the Court of International Trade and its predecessor, the U.S. Customs Court. State-law applications are less formalized but the interpretive principle — that specific nomination controls over general description — is broadly recognized across common law jurisdictions.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
The Law Mind Contracts & Commercial Law Encyclopedia: Contracts — Adequacy of Consideration and Nominal Consideration (contracts_7) — relevant where the question is whether something was designated by a specific name for legal purposes.