Definition
A Latin term from the civil law meaning to estimate, to value, or to appraise — specifically, to assign a monetary value or price to a thing. *Estimare* appears in Roman legal texts and in civil law sources as the operative verb for the act of valuation, whether applied to property, damages, a legacy, a dowry, or the subject of a contractual obligation. The noun form, *aestimatio*, carries the same root meaning and appears more frequently in translated doctrinal texts.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in civil law materials, Roman law sources, or Louisiana and Quebec legal history will encounter *estimare* and its cognates in contexts where valuation is legally operative — that is, where the act of setting a price determines rights, obligations, or remedies. Several practical research traps arise:
First, *estimare* is the verbal form; look for the noun *aestimatio* (sometimes spelled *estimatio* in medieval and early modern sources) in the same passages. Many doctrinal treatments use the noun in substantive discussion while the verb appears only in quoted texts or maxims.
Second, in the civil law tradition, valuation carried formal legal weight in ways that English common law did not always replicate. The *actio aestimatoria* (an action to recover the difference in value) and related remedies depended on a precise understanding of what *estimare* meant procedurally — not merely an informal opinion, but a fixed determination that could anchor liability. Researchers bridging civil law sources to common law equivalents should not assume the two traditions treat valuation identically.
Third, in historical Louisiana legal materials, where civil law survived the transition to American jurisdiction, terms like *estimare* and *aestimatio* appear in both original French-language sources and in English translations of Spanish colonial law. Spelling and transliteration vary considerably across these layers.
Fourth, *estimare* is occasionally confused in older dictionaries and treatises with broader terms for reckoning or accounting. The term is specific to monetary valuation — not a general term for judgment or assessment in the broader sense.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's entry is brief but accurate. He defines *estimare* as "to estimate; to value; to value in money; to put a price upon; to appraise," citing Calvin's *Lexicon Juridicum* (*Calv. Lex.*) as the underlying authority. This citation to Calvinus is characteristic of Burrill's method — he frequently routes civil law Latin through the early modern humanist legal dictionaries rather than directly to Justinianic sources.
The definition Burrill provides is uncontroversial and consistent with the term's usage in the Digest and in subsequent civil law commentary. What Burrill does not provide — and what researchers should supplement — is any indication of the procedural or remedial contexts in which *estimare* was a term of art. The valuation function of *estimare* was embedded in specific civil law actions and formulae; stripped of that context, the definition is technically correct but functionally thin.
No divergence among historical dictionary sources on this term is notable; it is a well-settled Latin root with a stable legal meaning across the civil law tradition.
Jurisdictional Note
*Estimare* is a term of the Roman and civil law tradition and has no direct analogue as a technical term in English common law. It retains relevance in jurisdictions with mixed civil law heritage, particularly Louisiana, Quebec, and in comparative or historical legal scholarship. Researchers in purely common law jurisdictions will encounter it only in historical or academic contexts.