ESS - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

ESSAuthored

The Law Mind • 638 words

Definition

A Latin grammatical particle used as an infinitive fragment in early legal Latin constructions, derived from *esse* (to be). In historical legal records and writs, *ess* and its inflected forms (*essendi*, *essendum*) appear as components of standard formulaic phrases indicating presence, existence, or obligation to appear. The term is not an independent legal concept but functions as a building block within formal Latin legal expressions recurring throughout medieval and early modern English law.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): The name of the letter S in the Latin script; also informally, any S-shaped object.

Historical common usage: No distinct entry in Webster's 1913 beyond the letter name.

The gap is significant: in legal Latin sources, *ess* is not a reference to the letter S but is rather a truncated or root form of *esse* (to be), appearing in gerunds and gerundives (*essendi*, *essendum*) embedded in writ formulas. A researcher encountering this form in a Latin legal text should not treat it as a typographical oddity or abbreviation for a proper name — it is grammatical scaffolding with specific legal meaning.

Common Confusion

*Ess* as a standalone entry is frequently confused with *esse* (the full infinitive) or absorbed into discussions of *essendi* and *essendum* without being separately identified. Historical dictionary compilers sometimes present these Latin gerund forms under the root *esse* rather than under *ess*, creating gaps in alphabetical lookups. Researchers should cross-check under all three forms.

Why It Matters in Research

Researchers working in pre-modern plea rolls, writs of summons, or procedural records will encounter *ess*, *essendi*, and *essendum* embedded in formulaic clauses without definition, as medieval scribes assumed Latin literacy. Burrill captures the gerund forms (*essendi*, *essendum*) but does not give *ess* its own entry, treating it as a grammatical particle beneath lexicographic notice. This creates a dead-end for researchers using alphabetical indexes to locate meaning.

The practical trap: Latin legal formularies of the twelfth through seventeenth centuries used *esse* constructions to establish presence requirements — e.g., *essendi coram nobis* (to be before us). If a researcher finds *ess* truncated mid-phrase in a damaged or abbreviated manuscript, misidentification as a proper noun, abbreviation, or clerical error is a real risk. Recognizing it as the stem of *esse* unlocks the phrase's procedural meaning.

No modern statutory or common law usage survives. This term is of interest exclusively to researchers engaged with Latin legal materials: medieval writs, Bracton, Fleta, Glanvill, and analogous sources.

Historical Dictionary Support

Burrill's Law Dictionary does not carry a direct entry for *ess* as an independent term. It appears implicitly in the entries for *ESSENDUM* and *ESSENDI*, where Burrill identifies these as "barbarous gerunds formed from the verb *sum, esse*, to be." The editorial note — "barbarous" — reflects the post-classical, scholastic Latin of legal practitioners rather than classical usage, a distinction important for understanding why these forms look irregular to classically trained readers.

Burrill's reference to Fleta (*lib. 2, c. 65, § 12*) and to the phrase *coram nobis* demonstrates the term's home territory: procedural writs defining where and before whom a party must appear. No other shelf source in the current corpus provides direct coverage of this particle.

Jurisdictional Note

Relevant exclusively to English common law history and derivative systems that adopted Latin writ practice before the shift to English-language legal pleading. In England, the Pleading in English Act 1362 began displacing Latin in oral proceedings, but written records and writs continued in Latin for centuries longer. Researchers in Scottish, Irish, and colonial American records will encounter these forms in proportion to the persistence of Latin writ practice in each jurisdiction.

Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

See ESSENDUM; ESSENDI

ESSmain

Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867

(558) pensation or commutation for actual service. Otherwise called scutage, (q. v.) 2 Bl. Com. 74, 80. See Mr. Barrington's derivation of this word. Obs. Stat. 342, 343. (559) nobis; that he be before us. A word constantly used in the old writs. Fleta, lib. 2, c. 65, § 12. ESSENDUM, ESSENDI. L. Lat. Being; of being. A barbarous gerund formed from the verb sum, esse, to be. See infra. ESSENDI, (or DE ESSENDO), QUIETUM DE THEOLONIO, Breve. L. Lat. In old English law. A writ of being quit of toll. A writ which anciently lay for citizens and burgesses of a city or town, which, by charter or prescription, was entitled to exemption from toll, where toll was exacted of them. Reg. Orig. 258 b. F. N. B. 226, I. ESSOIN, Essoign. [L. Fr. essoine, essoyne, exoine, asoyne, assoigne, assoygne; L. Lat. essonium, exonium, from Fr. essonier, (which from ex, priv. and soign, care,) to excuse, to relieve from care; or from Gr. ¿ópy volaι, to excuse on oath; from 5, from, and out, to swear.) Spelman.] In English practice. An excuse for not appearing in court, at the return of process; the exhibition or presentation of such excuse to the court; (ipsa excusatio, ejusdemque exhibitio.) Spelman, voc Essoniare. Britt. c. 122. Roscoe's Real Act. 156. Formerly allowed both to the plaintiff and defendant, (though generally the latter,) in real, personal and mixed actions. Co. Litt. 131. Com. Dig. Exoine, B. I. Boote's Suit at Law, 56, 57. Gilb. C. Pleas, 12, 13. **The excuses or essoins which were allowed to be offered were five, viz.: that the party was (1) in the king's service, (Lat. in servitio regis; Fr. en service del roy; called simply servitium regis :) (2) in the holy land; (Lat. in terra sancta, or in terram sanctam; called simply terra sancta: Fr. a la terre seynte :) (3) beyond sea, (Lat. trans or ultra mare, Fr. outre meer, or ouster le mer :) (4) ill in bed; (called malum lecti; Fr. mal de lyt; illness in bed:) and (5) prevented by misfortune happening on the way to the court, (called malum vice; Fr. mal de venue ;) which last was the common essoin. Hence the technical names of the essoins; (1) De servitio regis, or de service del roy (2) De terra sancta, or de terre seynte: (3) De ultra mare, or de outre meer: (4) De malo lecti, or de mal de lyt: and (5) De malo veniendi, or de mal de venue, (qq. v.) Glanv. lib. 1. Bract. lib. 5, tr. 2. Reeves' Hist. 405, All these, except obsolete, and no Britt. cc. 122-125. et seq. 2 Id. 122, 303. the last, have long been essoin is now allowed in personal actions. Roscoe's Real Act. 163. 2 Term R. 16. 16 East's R. 7 note (a). In real actions, essoins are still allowed in England. 3 Steph. Com. 659. See 10 Bing. 65. To ESSOIN. [L. Fr. essoyner, essonier; L. Lat. essoniare.] In English practice. To present or offer an excuse for not appearing in court on an appointed day, in obedience to a summons; to cast an essoin. Spelman, voc. Essoniare. This was anciently done by a person whom the party sent for that purpose, called an essoiner, (essoniator); and who, according to Bracton, presented the excuse in this form: Essonio talem dominum meum, quod cum esset in veniendo versus curiam, talis infirmitas accedit ei per viam, quod venire non potest pro lucrari, nec pro perdere ; et hoc paratus sum docere, sicut curia consideraverit, &c. I essoin such a one, my master, that while he was coming towards the court, such an infirmity happened to him by the way, that he cannot come, either to gain or lose; and this I am ready to show, or prove, as the court shall consider, &c. Bract. fol. 340.

essnoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.

The name of the Latin script letter S/s. | Something shaped like the letter S. (See esses)

essparticle

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Yes.

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