Definition
A Latin adverb used in civil law texts meaning "a second time," "again," or "repeatedly." In legal instruments and judicial writings, *iterum* signals repetition or recurrence — the doing of an act a second time, its continuation over time, or its occurrence on multiple occasions. The precise shade of meaning depends on context: a second discrete instance, a resumption after interruption, or a pattern of frequency.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encounter *iterum* primarily in Latin legal texts, particularly in transcriptions and translations of the Corpus Juris Civilis and in early common law materials that borrowed freely from Roman usage. The term is a navigational marker in these sources: its appearance often signals that a compiler or jurist is distinguishing between a first act and its repetition, which can carry legal significance in matters of notice, waiver, prescription, or continuing obligation.
The three gradations recorded in the Digest — "a second time," "again," and "frequently" — are not interchangeable in legal reasoning. When reading historical civil law sources, note which sense is operative. A passage using *iterum* to mean "a second time" supports arguments about sequencing or number of acts; the sense of *sæpius* (frequently, repeatedly) supports arguments about habit, custom, or a course of conduct. Conflating these shades can distort analysis of Roman-derived doctrines that passed into ecclesiastical law, Scots law, and early American equity practice.
In Law Mind's corpus, *iterum* appears most reliably in Latin-text reproductions of civil law sources and in early treatises and forms that retained Latin phrasing. It is rare in post-18th century English-language legal writing, where it was displaced by plain-English equivalents. Researchers should not expect to find the term in modern statutory or case law except in historical quotation.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the sole source entry and offers a compact but precise account. Burrill identifies three distinct senses drawn from Digest 2.13.7.1, cross-referencing their Greek equivalents: *δεύτερον* (a second time), *πάλιν* (again), and *sæpius* rendered as "frequently." The Greek parallels are not decorative — they signal that Burrill was working from bilingual editions of the Digest and understood that Latin-Greek correspondence in Roman legal texts was a tool of precision, not mere translation.
No other dictionary in the present source set covers *iterum*. The term is absent from most English legal dictionaries because it functioned as vocabulary within Latin-text civil law rather than as a term of art requiring definition in vernacular practice. This absence is itself informative: it confirms that *iterum* was a word lawyers read rather than a doctrine they argued.