FILARE - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

FILAREAuthored

The Law Mind • 550 words

Definition

A Latin term from old English legal practice meaning "to file." Filare denotes the act of placing a document in the official custody of a court or its records — threading it, literally or figuratively, into the permanent record. The term derives from the physical practice of stringing writs and court papers on a thread, wire, or string (filum) for safekeeping and orderly retrieval. Though the word itself is obsolete, the act it describes — filing — remains foundational to legal procedure.

Common Confusion

Filare is the verb form of an older documentary practice; file (noun) and to file (verb) are its direct descendants in modern usage. Researchers encountering filare in historical records should not treat it as a distinct procedural concept separate from "filing" — it is the Latin antecedent of that practice, not a different act. The term should also be distinguished from filum, the noun form referring to the physical thread or wire itself.

Why It Matters in Research

Filare appears almost exclusively in pre-nineteenth-century English legal materials, particularly in pleading records and court practice manuals. Its presence in a source is itself a dating signal: the term was already archaic by the time most standard legal dictionaries were compiled, and the office associated with certain filing functions was abolished in 1837. Researchers working in early chancery records, plea rolls, or treatises on English practice will encounter filare where modern sources would simply say "filed." Because the physical act of filing originally meant literally threading documents on a wire or string, early records organized by filum — the thread — may have archival implications for how documents were grouped and retrieved. Corpus researchers should note that Black's, Burrill's, and Bouvier's all treat filare as a cross-reference entry pointing toward the fuller treatment of FILE, meaning substantive discussion of filing practice will be found under that headword, not under filare itself.

Historical Dictionary Support

The historical dictionaries are in close agreement: filare means "to file" in old English practice, and all four sources cite Townshend's Pleadings (Townsh. Pl. 67) as authority. Bouvier's provides the richest contextual entry by connecting filare to the noun filum and explaining the physical origin of the practice — writs and exhibits fastened to a thread or wire for safekeeping. Spelman's Glossary and Cowell are cited across multiple sources as supporting authorities for the physical etymology. Black's (2nd Ed.) and Bouvier's both note that a paper is "filed" either when physically affixed in this manner or when delivered to the proper officer and received by him for keeping. The historical dictionaries do not disagree on substance; they differ only in how much of the broader FILE entry they reproduce alongside the filare headword. None of the sources treat filare as carrying any meaning beyond "to file" in the procedural sense.

Jurisdictional Note

Filare is specific to old English legal practice and has no independent application in American law. It appears in American legal dictionaries solely as a historical reference term tracing the origins of the modern filing requirement common to all U.S. jurisdictions.

FILAREmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

In old English practice. To file. Townsh. Pl. 67. FILE, 0. In practice. To put upon the lles, or deposit in the custody or among the records of a court. "Filing a bill" in equity is an equivalent expression to "commencing a suit." "To file" a paper, on the part of a party, is to place it in the official custody of the clerk. "To file," on the part of the clerk, is to in- dorse upon the paper the date of its reception, and retain it in his office, subject to inspec- tion by whomsoever it may concern. 14 Tex. 339. The expressions "filing" and "entering of rec- ord" are not synonymous. They are nowhere so used, but always convey distinct ideas. "Filing" originally signified placing papers in order on a thread or wire for safe-keeping. In this country and at this day it means, agreeably to our practice, depositing them in due order in the proper office. Entering of record uniformly implies writing. 2 Blackf. 247. FILE, n. A thread, string, or wire upon which writs and other exhibits in courts and offices are fastened or filed for the more safe-keeping and ready turning to the same. Spelman; Cowell; Tomlins. Papers put to- gether and tied in bundles. A paper is said also to be filed when it is delivered to the proper officer, and by him received to be kept on file. 13 Vin. Abr. 211; 1 Litt. 113; 1 Hawk. P. C. 7, 207. But, in general, "file," or "the files," is used loosely to denote the official custody of the court or the place in the offices of a court where the records and papers are kept.