Definition
A Latin term appearing in old English land records meaning a hill or elevated ground. Used in medieval conveyancing and monastic charters to describe topographical features within the boundaries or extent of a grant. The phrase *in hullis et holmis* — "in hills and dales" — appears in early grants as a formulaic description of all manner of terrain within a property's scope, functioning similarly to the all-inclusive topographical language common in medieval conveyances.
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Why It Matters in Research
HULLUS is a term of descriptive geography, not legal doctrine. It appears almost exclusively in medieval and early modern land records — charters, grants, and monastic cartularies — where Latin topographical terms were used to describe the physical character of granted land. A researcher encountering *hullus* or its plural *hulli* in transcribed records should treat it as boundary or terrain description, not as a term of art carrying legal consequences in itself.
The phrase *in hullis et holmis* warrants particular attention. *Holmus* (a low-lying or riverside meadow, cognate with the English "holm") appears alongside *hullus* as part of paired formulaic language. This pairing — hills and dales, high ground and low — was a conventional drafting device to signal comprehensiveness of grant, covering all topographical variations within the described property. Researchers working with medieval conveyances should be alert to these paired Latin topographical formulas as signals of the drafter's intent to convey the entirety of the land rather than selected portions.
The primary source reference across all historical dictionaries is Monasticon Anglicanum (2 Mon. Angl. 292), the great compilation of English monastic records. This places *hullus* firmly in the context of ecclesiastical land grants. Researchers tracing land tenure in areas that were once monastic holdings may encounter this term in original or transcribed charters. The term has no continuing legal life in modern law.
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Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries are in complete agreement on the core meaning: *hullus* means a hill. Black's (both editions), Rapalje & Lawrence, and Burrill all give identical single-line definitions, each tracing back to the same two sources — Monasticon Anglicanum and Cowell's *Interpreter*. Bouvier adds modest but useful context, supplying the phrase *in hullis et holmis* with the translation "in hills and dales" and a reference to Jacob's Law Dictionary.
The chain of authority here is short and consistent: Cowell's *Interpreter* (1607), one of the earliest English legal dictionaries, appears to be the conduit through which the term entered the legal dictionary tradition, with the Monasticon Anglicanum providing the underlying documentary evidence. No dictionary offers a substantive legal analysis because none is warranted — this is a descriptive geographic term, not a term of legal doctrine. The dictionaries record it for completeness and as an aid to reading old documents, which remains its only practical use.
What the historical dictionaries do not do is place the term in context of medieval drafting conventions. The significance of paired topographical formulas — of which *in hullis et holmis* is one example — is not addressed. A researcher seeking to understand why such language appeared in a specific grant will need to look beyond dictionary sources to works on medieval Latin and Anglo-Norman conveyancing practice.
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Jurisdictional Note
HULLUS is specific to the English legal and documentary tradition. It appears in Latin records produced in England, primarily in ecclesiastical and royal grants from the medieval period. It has no parallel application in Scots, Irish, or continental documentary traditions, though comparable topographical formulas exist in those contexts under different terms.
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