Definition
A Latin term from medieval and early English law meaning to impeach, accuse, or call to account. The term encompasses three closely related but distinct procedural concepts: (1) to formally accuse a person of a crime or offense; (2) to hold a person accountable before a tribunal; and (3) to bring a civil action or suit against a person. The word derives from the Latin construction *in* (against) and *petere* (to demand or seek), rendering a literal sense of "to demand against" or "to press a claim upon."
*Impetere* appears in medieval legal records and chronicles as a general term for initiating formal proceedings — whether criminal or civil — against another person. Its usage was not confined to any single procedural context, which is why it spans modern concepts ranging from criminal impeachment to civil suit.
Common Confusion
*Impetere* is easily conflated with *impeachment* in the modern constitutional sense — the legislative process for removing public officials. The connection is real but partial. *Impetere* is the broader ancestor term, encompassing any formal accusation or demand for accountability. Modern constitutional impeachment is one narrow descendant of this root concept. A researcher encountering *impetere* in a medieval or early common law source should not assume the passage refers to anything like legislative removal proceedings; the term more likely describes an ordinary accusation or a civil demand.
Why It Matters in Research
*Impetere* is a term of art found almost exclusively in Latin legal records, chronicles, and early common law sources. Researchers working in medieval English legal history, ecclesiastical records, or texts drawing on Roman and canon law will encounter it; researchers working in modern common law materials will not.
The primary trap is anachronism. Because *impetere* shares a root with "impeach," modern researchers can misread a medieval passage as referring to a formal proceeding analogous to parliamentary or constitutional impeachment. The term's scope in historical sources is considerably broader and more procedurally generic.
Burrill's citation to Gregory of Tours (*Historia Francorum*, lib. 5, c. 14) places the term in a Frankish chronicle context, illustrating that *impetere* circulated beyond English legal texts into continental Latin sources used by English ecclesiastical and common law scholars. A researcher following *impetere* through Spelman's *Glossarium* will find additional medieval Latin variations and cognate forms.
The connection to Blackstone's *Commentaries* (2 Bl. Com. 283) is significant: Blackstone uses the civil-suit sense of the term, anchoring *impetere* to the English common law of real actions and demands. This means the same Latin word carried criminal-accusation meanings in chronicle and ecclesiastical sources and civil-demand meanings in common law texts — a distinction worth tracking when reading secondary sources that may not specify which sense is operative.
Researchers should note that *impetere* is unlikely to appear as a standalone headword in most secondary indexes. It will surface as a cross-reference under *impeachment*, *impetitio*, or *implacitare*, and in glossaries appended to medieval records editions.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill is the primary English-language legal dictionary source for this term. His entry is concise but well-sourced, drawing on Spelman's *Glossarium Archaiologicum* and Blackstone. Burrill correctly identifies the two functional senses — criminal accusation and civil suit — without artificially separating them, which reflects the historical reality that *impetere* was used fluidly across both contexts.
What Burrill does not address is the canon law dimension. In ecclesiastical records, *impetere* and its cognates appear in contexts of accusation before church tribunals, particularly in proceedings related to clerical conduct. Researchers working in ecclesiastical legal history should consult Du Cange's *Glossarium Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis* for the fuller range of medieval Latin usage not captured in English common law dictionaries.
No major divergence exists among the historical legal dictionaries on the core meaning; the term is rare enough that it receives little treatment outside Burrill and Spelman.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Impeachment (Historical); Real Actions (English Common Law)