Definition
A Latin maxim meaning "in courts" or "in judicial proceedings." The phrase most commonly appears as the opening clause of the fuller maxim *in judiciis, minori stati succurritur* — "in courts or judicial proceedings, infancy is aided or favored." In this form, the maxim expresses the longstanding judicial principle that courts will give special solicitude to the interests of minors who appear before them, construing legal proceedings and outcomes in favor of the infant party where doubt or discretion permits.
Standing alone, *in judiciis* functions as a prepositional phrase used to modify other legal rules — indicating that a principle applies specifically in the context of formal judicial proceedings, as opposed to extrajudicial acts, legislative processes, or private transactions.
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Why It Matters in Research
Researchers will encounter *in judiciis* almost exclusively in older treatise-based and maxim-based legal literature rather than in modern case law, where the underlying principles have been absorbed into statute and procedural rules governing minors in litigation. Several navigational points apply:
The maxim *in judiciis, minori stati succurritur* belongs to a family of protective doctrines that evolved into modern procedural requirements — such as the appointment of guardians ad litem and the court's duty to review settlements on behalf of minor plaintiffs. When tracing the historical foundations of those modern rules, this maxim is a relevant ancestral source, even though the phrase itself has dropped out of contemporary judicial vocabulary.
The citation to *Jenk. Cent. 46, case 89* refers to David Jenkins's *Centuries of Reports* (commonly cited as *Jenk. Cent.*), a collection of English equity and common law cases from the seventeenth century. Researchers should be aware that Jenkins's *Centuries* is a difficult source to verify and cross-reference; the cases are brief, often undated, and vary across editions. Treat citations to this source as illustrative of maxim-collection practice rather than as binding precedent.
Because *in judiciis* appears primarily as part of a Latin maxim rather than as a defined term of art, full-text searching in historical corpus materials will require Latin-form searches. Variant spellings and abbreviations (*in jud.*, *in judic.*) may appear depending on the typesetters and editors of a given volume.
The broader principle — that courts protect infant parties — connects directly to the equity jurisdiction's parens patriae doctrine. Researchers following this thread should move from this maxim toward that doctrine and its procedural descendants.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd ed.) treats the phrase economically, presenting it solely as the opening clause of the protective infancy maxim and citing Jenkins's *Centuries*. No independent definition of *in judiciis* as a standalone term is offered. This reflects the standard approach of maxim-based entries in historical legal dictionaries: the phrase carries meaning through its maxim context, not as a freestanding concept.
Historical sources are silent on any broader or independent usage of *in judiciis* as a term of art. The phrase's significance is entirely derivative of the maxims in which it appears. Researchers should not expect to find substantive doctrinal discussion of the phrase itself; the doctrine is in the maxim, and the maxim is the unit of analysis in pre-twentieth-century legal literature.
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Jurisdictional Note
The protective principle expressed in this maxim — that judicial proceedings favor infants — developed primarily in English common law and equity courts and was carried into American jurisprudence through both common law reception and early chancery practice. The specific maxim has no independent jurisdictional force in modern American courts, but the underlying principle is recognized in all U.S. jurisdictions through procedural rules and statutes governing minors in litigation.
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