Definition
A Latin word meaning "they were" or "they shall have been" — a past subjunctive form of the Latin verb *esse* (to be). In old English legal usage, *fuerint* appeared most characteristically in the phrase *si quae fuerint*, meaning roughly "if there shall have been any" or "if there were any." The interpretive difficulty with this phrase was whether it carried a present, past, or future sense, a question that had substantive legal consequences in the instruments and proceedings where it appeared.
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Why It Matters in Research
*Fuerint* is a term of narrow but genuine technical importance for researchers working in pre-modern English legal texts, particularly conveyancing materials and early treatise literature. The interpretive ambiguity Burrill flags — whether *si quae fuerint* is to be read in the present or future tense — is not a grammatical curiosity but a substantive legal issue. In instruments governing the transfer of property or the determination of rights contingent on factual conditions, the temporal scope of a conditional clause could determine whether a party's rights had already vested, were presently operative, or remained contingent on future events.
Researchers consulting early conveyancing treatises should watch for *fuerint* and related Latin conditional forms in clauses qualifying grants, exceptions, or reservations. The meaning could shift depending on context, and courts and commentators did not always resolve the ambiguity the same way. Burrill's citation to Perkins's *Profitable Book* (ch. 12, §§ 741–743) points to the primary locus of this analysis in the English treatise tradition; researchers working backward from Burrill should go directly to Perkins for the fuller discussion.
This term will rarely appear in post-medieval legal materials. Its research significance is essentially confined to Latin-language instruments, Year Book materials, and the early treatise corpus. Researchers encountering *fuerint* in any other context should confirm the surrounding Latin to determine whether the temporal sense is controlling.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's entry is brief but precise. He identifies the grammatical root (*esse*, to be), the legal context (old English law), and the core interpretive problem: *si quae fuerint* was read by courts and practitioners in both the present and future tense, with the meaning depending on context. He supplies a citation to Perkins rather than developing the analysis himself, which is appropriate given the term's narrow scope.
No other Law Mind shelf sources index *fuerint* as a standalone entry. The term is too specialized and archaic to have attracted broader dictionary treatment. Burrill's entry, sparse as it is, represents the most accessible modern synthesis available. For deeper analysis, Perkins's *Profitable Book* remains the authoritative source he points toward.
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Jurisdictional Note
This term is exclusively a feature of old English common law and its Latin-language legal tradition. It has no current jurisdictional application in any modern legal system.
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