Definition
In old Latin legal records, *innaturalitas* denotes unnatural usage or conduct — behavior contrary to the natural order as understood in the legal and moral framework of the period. The term appears as a descriptive label in ecclesiastical and civil records, typically applied to conduct considered aberrant or contrary to nature, and was not itself a precise cause of action but rather a characterizing term used in pleading or accusation.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering *innaturalitas* in medieval or early modern Latin legal records should treat it as a term of moral characterization rather than a technical legal term of art with fixed elements. Its presence in a document signals ecclesiastical or quasi-ecclesiastical context more often than a common-law proceeding. Because the term carries a heavy normative charge rooted in natural law theory, its meaning is highly dependent on the source tradition — canon law records, manorial court rolls, and civil law proceedings will deploy it differently. Do not assume that a document using *innaturalitas* maps onto any modern legal category without examining the surrounding record. The term is also susceptible to scribal variation; researchers should watch for related forms or paraphrases in Latin records when the exact spelling does not appear. Burrill's entry traces the definition back to Cowell's *Interpreter*, meaning the primary source is once removed and should be verified against the original record when possible.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides a minimal entry: "L. Lat. In old records. Unnatural usage. Cowell." The entry's brevity reflects the term's narrow and archaic footprint — it was not a term of art that generated sustained legal commentary. Burrill defers entirely to John Cowell's *Interpreter* (1607), an early glossary of legal and ecclesiastical terms, which suggests the term had already become obscure by the time early modern lexicographers were cataloguing it. No other standard historical dictionaries in the Law Mind corpus (Jacob, Tomlin, Bouvier, Black) appear to carry entries for *innaturalitas*, which itself confirms its limited circulation in the common law tradition. The absence of further elaboration across the shelf indicates this was a term encountered in records rather than litigated in doctrine.
Jurisdictional Note
*Innaturalitas* belongs to the Latin record-keeping tradition of medieval England and the broader European civil and canon law world. It has no recognized presence in American legal materials and is unlikely to appear outside historical English ecclesiastical or manorial records.