Definition
Latin: "in these words." A phrase used to indicate that what follows is a verbatim quotation of a document, instrument, or statement — reproduced exactly as written, word for word. When a pleading, deed, contract, or other instrument is set out *in haec verba*, the entire text is copied into the document rather than summarized or described by its legal effect.
The phrase functions as a signal of precision: the drafter is representing that the quoted language is an exact reproduction, not a paraphrase.
Note on spelling: The term is correctly rendered *in haec verba* (feminine form, agreeing with *verba*). The source entry "in hzc verba" reflects a common typographical corruption found in older printed dictionaries where the ligature *æ* or the letter *a* with a diacritic was misread or mis-set during typesetting. Researchers encountering "hzc" or "hæc" in historical texts should treat these as the same phrase.
Common Language
The constituent words have plain English equivalents — "in" (in), "these" (haec), "words" (verba) — but the phrase as a legal term of art signals a specific pleading and drafting convention that has no precise ordinary-English equivalent beyond "verbatim" or "word for word." No meaningful gap analysis is required; the phrase is transparent in meaning but specialized in application.
Why It Matters in Research
Pleading practice is the primary context. At common law, pleadings that incorporated a written instrument could do so either by setting it out *in haec verba* — full verbatim copy — or by pleading its legal effect (called pleading "the substance" or "the legal effect"). The choice carried procedural consequences: setting out an instrument *in haec verba* exposed the pleader to a variance challenge if the actual instrument differed even slightly from what was copied. Pleading by legal effect was sometimes safer but invited different objections.
Researchers working in pre-code equity and common law pleading materials will encounter *in haec verba* frequently in the context of bills in equity incorporating deeds, bonds, or contracts. Modern code pleading generally permits either approach and has reduced the technical stakes, but the phrase persists in case law discussing whether an instrument was adequately incorporated.
The typographical corruption in older sources is a genuine research trap. Scanning historical digests and dictionaries for "in hzc verba" or variant spellings may return incomplete results. Researchers should run searches using multiple spellings: *in haec verba*, *in hæc verba*, *in hac verba*, and the corrupted *in hzc verba*.
The phrase also appears in the context of statutory construction, where courts note whether a prior enactment is re-enacted *in haec verba* — verbatim — as evidence of legislative intent to carry forward prior interpretations.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) gives the definition tersely as "in these words" and situates it among Latin maxims, but the source text as provided is fragmentary due to typesetting corruption. The surrounding entries — concerning penal actions not passing to heirs and statutory extension in matters favorable to the soul — are unrelated maxims that appear in close proximity in the original printed volume, confirming the corruption is a production artifact rather than a genuine alternate definition.
No other shelf-source entries are available for synthesis in this instance. The definition itself is uncontested across legal dictionaries; the phrase is semantically stable and has not shifted in meaning over time. What historical sources tend to understate is the procedural significance of the choice between *in haec verba* pleading and pleading by legal effect — a distinction that was technically consequential in common law and equity practice but is rarely spelled out in the dictionary entries themselves.
Jurisdictional Note
The phrase and its underlying pleading concept carry consistent meaning across common law jurisdictions. Its practical procedural significance varies by whether a jurisdiction retains code pleading, notice pleading, or vestiges of common law pleading forms. Federal practice under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure does not require verbatim incorporation of instruments but permits it.