Definition
Latin: "and so." A phrase used in classical common law pleading as the opening words of a special concluding formula attached to a plea in bar. The formula introduced a positive assertion of the plea's conclusion — for example, *et sic nil debet* ("and so he owes nothing") or *et sic non est factum* ("and so it was not his deed") — rather than leaving the conclusion implied or reasoned toward argumentatively. The phrase served a technical drafting function: it signaled that the pleader was stating the legal result directly and affirmatively, satisfying the formal requirement that a plea in bar conclude with a positive averment rather than an argument.
Common Language
This is pure Latin legal jargon. The constituent words — *et* ("and") and *sic* ("so" or "thus") — appear in ordinary English contexts, most famously in the editorial marker *sic* used to indicate a quotation is reproduced exactly as written. That common usage is unrelated to the pleading formula and shares no functional overlap. No COMMON LANGUAGE section is needed beyond this note.
Why It Matters in Research
ET SIC is a relic of the formal Latin pleading system abolished in England by the Common Law Procedure Acts of the mid-nineteenth century and swept away in American jurisdictions by code pleading reforms beginning with the New York Field Code of 1848. Researchers will encounter the phrase almost exclusively in pre-reform case records, plea rolls, and common law pleading treatises.
Two practical traps exist for corpus researchers. First, the phrase appears embedded within longer formulaic conclusions (*et sic nil debet*, *et sic non est factum*) rather than standing alone; searching for "et sic" in historical documents will surface these compound formulas, and the researcher must recognize that the meaning lies in the full phrase, not the two-word fragment. Second, the distinction between a "positive" and an "argumentative" conclusion — which ET SIC was designed to enforce — is a technical pleading concept that maps poorly onto modern drafting vocabulary. Historical sources that discuss ET SIC are nearly always discussing this positive/argumentative distinction, so understanding that distinction is prerequisite to understanding why the formula mattered.
The phrase also surfaces in legal history scholarship on the Year Books and early common law pleading, where it appears frequently in plea records without explanation, on the assumption that readers know the convention. Modern researchers working with those sources should treat ET SIC as a structural marker indicating the final, conclusory line of a plea in bar.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's (both editions) and Burrill agree completely on definition and function. All three entries identify ET SIC as the introduction to a special plea-in-bar conclusion and share the example *et sic nil debet*. Burrill adds the second example, *et sic non est factum*, and is the only source among the three to cite pleading treatises — Archbold's *Civil Pleading* (p. 224) and Mansell on Demurrer (p. 75) — providing a path to deeper technical treatment if needed. Black's entries (both editions) are identical in substance and appear to draw from the same base.
None of the three sources explains the underlying doctrinal reason the positive conclusion was required — namely, that an argumentative conclusion left the legal effect of the plea uncertain and exposed it to demurrer. That gap is significant: a researcher who encounters ET SIC without understanding the positive/argumentative distinction will know what the words mean but not why they were used. Pleading treatises, particularly Chitty's *Treatise on Pleading* and Stephen's *Principles of Pleading*, supply that context where the dictionary sources do not.
Jurisdictional Note
ET SIC is a creature of common law pleading and has no operative role in any modern jurisdiction. Its relevance is entirely historical, confined to English and American common law practice before code pleading reforms. Researchers working with civil law or equity records will not encounter it.