Definition
Latin: "so that." A term of medieval legal drafting that carried distinct technical meanings depending on the context in which it appeared.
1. In old practice (writs): A connective phrase introducing the operative result or command in a writ. Most commonly encountered in the formula ita quod habeas corpus — "so that you have the body" — which expressed the condition or purpose of the writ's execution.
2. In arbitration: The name given to the stipulation in a submission to arbitration that begins with the words "so as the award be made of and upon the premises." The ita quod clause defined the scope of the arbitrator's authority and conditioned the parties' obligations on an award properly rendered within that scope.
3. In old conveyancing: A conditional phrase used in deeds to create an estate upon condition. When inserted into a grant, ita quod had the legal effect of attaching a condition to the estate conveyed rather than merely describing it. Sheppard identified it as one of the three words most proper to make an estate conditional.
Common Confusion
The three uses of ita quod are formally distinct and should not be conflated. In writs, the phrase is structural and procedural — it introduces a consequence or purpose. In conveyancing, it is operative and substantive — it creates a condition that can defeat an estate. Treating the phrase as uniformly conditional (on the model of the conveyancing use) when reading writ formularies will distort interpretation. Similarly, the arbitration usage is neither procedural nor estate-creating; it delimits the jurisdiction of the arbitrator.
Why It Matters in Research
Ita quod is a relic phrase unlikely to appear in modern instruments, but it surfaces regularly in transcriptions and digests of medieval and early modern legal documents — particularly in writs, conveyancing precedents, and arbitration submissions from the English common law tradition. Researchers working with Year Books, early modern deed registries, or Fitzherbert's Natura Brevium and similar writ collections will encounter it in its practice context.
The critical research trap is context collapse: a researcher who encounters ita quod in an unfamiliar document type and applies the wrong definition risks misreading the legal effect entirely. An estate upon condition operates very differently from a writ command, and the distinction between a mere limitation and a condition was enormously consequential in real property law — conditions could result in forfeiture; limitations could not.
For arbitration research, the ita quod stipulation is relevant to historical disputes about the scope of arbitral authority and whether an award fell within or outside the submission. Early English arbitration cases frequently turned on whether the award was "made of and upon the premises" as required by the ita quod clause. Researchers tracing the history of arbitration law should flag this usage when reading submission agreements from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Because the phrase has no modern drafting equivalent, it will not appear in contemporary instruments. Its research value is entirely historical and interpretive.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's (1st and 2nd editions) and Burrill's are in close agreement on all three uses. All three sources cite the same authority for the writ usage — 2 Mod. 180 — and Littleton § 329 for the conveyancing use. Burrill adds the important detail from Sheppard's Touchstone (at pp. 121–122) that ita quod was enumerated among the three words most proper to create an estate conditional — a specification that Black's mentions but without the full Sheppard attribution. This makes Burrill marginally more useful for conveyancing research requiring precise citation to early authority.
None of the historical dictionaries elaborate on the arbitration usage beyond naming it, and none discuss the consequences of an ita quod clause being satisfied or breached in the arbitration context. Researchers needing more on that point should consult Kyd's Treatise on the Law of Awards (1791) or older English arbitration treatises directly.
Jurisdictional Note
Ita quod was a phrase of English common law drafting and does not appear as a live term in any American jurisdiction. Its relevance to American legal research is confined to colonial-era documents, early republic conveyances drafted in the English tradition, and historical scholarship.