Definition
A Latin maxim from old English law meaning "it lies in the mouth." The phrase was used to describe something that exists or is asserted orally — that is, a matter residing in spoken words or personal knowledge rather than in written instrument or formal record. In its procedural context, it referred to the capacity of a party or witness to speak to a matter directly from their own mouth, as distinct from proof established through documentary evidence or record.
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Why It Matters in Research
This term appears only in the oldest strata of English legal sources and is not a term a researcher will encounter in modern practice or post-medieval case law. Its presence in Black's 2nd Edition Supplemental signals that it was already archaic by the time of that dictionary's compilation — included for historical completeness rather than active use.
Researchers working in medieval English legal records, plea rolls, or early treatise literature (particularly Fleta and its contemporaries) may encounter this phrase in passages describing oral pleading or the competency of oral testimony. The phrase reflects a procedural world in which the distinction between what "lies in the mouth" (oral assertion, personal attestation) and what lies in the record (enrolled, enrolled plea, or written instrument) carried significant legal weight. That distinction governed how certain claims could be proved or denied.
The sole direct source in the Law Mind corpus is Black's 2nd Edition Supplemental, which points to Fleta, lib. 5, c. 8, § 49. Fleta is a late 13th-century English legal treatise, closely derivative of Bracton, and researchers who need full context must consult that source directly. The Fleta reference is specific enough to be useful: Book 5, Chapter 8 deals with procedural matters in the royal courts, and § 49 is the operative passage.
Do not attempt to locate this phrase in modern digests, Westlaw, or post-medieval case reporters. It belongs to the manuscript and early printed treatise tradition. Researchers using it as a search term in digitized legal databases should expect near-zero results outside of Fleta itself and dictionaries that cite Fleta.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) Supplemental is the only source in the Law Mind corpus containing this entry. The entry is characteristically spare: a Latin gloss ("it lies in the mouth"), a subject classification ("old English law"), and a single treatise citation to Fleta.
No corresponding entry appears in the main body of Black's 2nd Edition, suggesting the term was treated as supplemental antiquarian material even at the time of that edition's publication. The absence of this term from later editions of Black's and from other historical law dictionaries in the corpus confirms that it did not survive into general legal usage.
The Fleta citation is the authoritative anchor for this term. Researchers who need to understand the full procedural context must work from the Latin text of Fleta directly, as no secondary elaboration is available through the dictionary sources surveyed.
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Jurisdictional Note
This term is specific to old English common law procedure. It has no recognized equivalent or analog in American, Scottish, or civil law traditions. It is a research term only, not an operative legal phrase in any modern jurisdiction.
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