Definition
A Latin demonstrative pronoun, the plural neuter or feminine form of *ille* ("that"), meaning "those." In legal usage, *illa* appears in Latin maxims, writs, and statutory or pleading texts where it functions as a demonstrative reference — pointing back to previously named things, persons, or conditions. Its precise grammatical role in any given legal instrument determines its legal significance: *illa* may limit, extend, or specify the scope of the words it accompanies.
The term carries no independent substantive legal meaning on its own. Its legal importance is entirely contextual — it arises when courts must construe whether *illa* in a particular instrument refers narrowly to a specific antecedent or broadly to a class.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering *illa* in historical legal texts will find it almost exclusively in two contexts: Latin maxims reproduced in early common law treatises and reports, and Latin pleading or writ formularies. In both, the word's antecedent must be identified before any legal construction is possible.
The construction of *illa* was a live issue in early English case law. Burrill directs researchers to *Dodington's Case*, reported at 2 Co. 33a, where Coke addresses the scope of a demonstrative reference in a legal instrument — a reminder that what appears to be a mere grammatical particle could, in the hands of early common lawyers, become the pivot of a dispute over meaning and scope.
Researchers working with Coke's Reports or with Wingate's *Maximes of Reason* (the source of Wingate's Max. 13, pl. 11, cited by Burrill) should be alert to the fact that Latin connective and demonstrative words were frequently glossed and argued in ways that modern English-language legal research tools will not surface. Full-text searching for *illa* in a corpus of Latin-heavy legal sources will return a high volume of grammatically incidental uses; isolating the instances where *illa* itself was the subject of judicial construction requires close reading and attention to surrounding doctrine.
No modern American or English legal usage turns on *illa* as such. Its relevance is confined to historical legal Latin — primarily pre-19th century English common law materials, ecclesiastical court records, and civil law texts.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's treatment is spare but accurate: *illa* is glossed simply as the plural of *ille*, meaning "those," with immediate redirection to primary sources rather than extended commentary. This economy is characteristic of Burrill's handling of Latin grammatical terms that carry legal weight only in situ. Burrill cites *Dodington's Case* (2 Co. 33a) and Wingate's Maximes, signaling that the word's legal significance is doctrinal rather than definitional — the dictionary entry serves as a finding aid rather than a substantive gloss.
No other standard historical legal dictionaries (Bouvier, Black's early editions, Jacob's Law Dictionary) carry a standalone entry for *illa*, which confirms that Burrill's inclusion reflects his exceptionally thorough treatment of Latin legal vocabulary rather than any broad recognition of the term as a term of art. Researchers should not expect parallel entries in other shelf sources.
The Latin dictionary tradition treats *illa* as the adverbial or pronominal form of *ille*, consistent with Burrill's grammatical note. There is no divergence between legal and classical Latin usage on the meaning of the word itself; the divergence arises only in the legal consequences attached to its reference in particular instruments.