JURATA

4 definitions found across Law Mind sources

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JURATAAuthored
The Law Mind • 813 words
Definition
An archaic Latin term for a jury of twelve sworn men in old English law. The jurata designated specifically the common-law jury — the sworn body of twelve — as distinguished from the assisa (assize), which referred to a jury established or regulated by royal ordinance. The term also appeared in the phrase jurata ponitur in respectum ("the jury is put in respite"), which formed the emphatic operative language in the jury clause of a nisi prius record; by metonymy, that clause itself came to be called the jurata. A secondary meaning, derived from the same Latin root, is simply jurat — the certification at the foot of an affidavit or deposition attesting that it was sworn before an officer of competent authority. Some historical sources use jurata interchangeably with jurat in this narrower, procedural sense.
Common Confusion
JURATA vs. JURAT: Modern legal usage has largely collapsed jurata into jurat when referring to the certifying clause on an affidavit. Researchers encountering jurata in historical records should not assume it refers to the affidavit certification; context will usually determine whether the reference is to a sworn jury body or to an attestation clause. The two uses share a common Latin root (jurare, to swear) but operate in entirely different procedural settings. JURATA vs. ASSISA: The historical distinction between jurata and assisa is frequently blurred in secondary sources. The jurata was the common-law jury of twelve sworn neighbors; the assisa was a jury creature of royal ordinance, associated with the possessory assizes. Treating the terms as synonymous produces errors in reading medieval pleading records.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in medieval and early modern English legal records will encounter jurata most often in two distinct documentary contexts: plea rolls and nisi prius records (where the jury clause is styled jurata ponitur in respectum or similar), and in treatise discussions contrasting the common-law jury with the assize. Confusing these contexts leads to misreading the procedural posture of a case. The term is essentially extinct in live legal usage. Any appearance of jurata in materials after the eighteenth century is almost certainly either antiquarian citation, Jersey law (see below), or an affidavit attestation clause where jurat has displaced it. Researchers should not carry forward assumptions from modern jurat usage when reading older materials. The Jersey usage is a distinct trap: Bouvier notes that jurats in the island of Jersey were the twelve elected officers of the Royal Court, members for life — an office with no counterpart in English common-law practice. A source discussing "jurats" in a Channel Islands context is referring to judicial officers, not to a sworn jury or an affidavit clause.
Historical Dictionary Support
The four source dictionaries present a consistent core meaning — jurata as a sworn jury of twelve in old English law — but each adds a layer the others omit or underemphasize. Burrill provides the most technically precise account, citing Bracton (fol. 63b), the Registrum Originale, and Fleta for the proposition that the jurata was so called because its members were sworn to try the issue and return a true verdict according to the evidence. Burrill also preserves the full Latin form jurata patriæ ("jury of the country"), which is important for reading Bracton-era materials. Burrill's citation to Blackstone (3 Bl. Com. 365) anchors the term in the common-law tradition. Bouvier adds the Jersey officer usage explicitly and cites authority for it (1 Steph. Com., 11th ed. 108; L.R. 1 P.C. 94), making Bouvier uniquely useful when Channel Islands legal history is implicated. Black's (both editions) flags the nisi prius record usage — the jury clause called the jurata — and cross-references jurat, but neither edition develops the assisa distinction with the care that Burrill and Bouvier apply. The second edition entry is corrupted in the surviving text (the scan bleeds into a "jural" entry), limiting its independent utility. None of the dictionaries fully develops the procedural significance of jurata ponitur in respectum as a technical pleading phrase, though Townshend's Pleading is cited by Black's for that usage. Researchers needing to reconstruct nisi prius practice should treat the dictionary entries as orientation points and move to primary pleading treatises.
Jurisdictional Note
In Channel Islands (Jersey) law, jurat retains active legal significance as the title of elected lay judges sitting on the Royal Court of Jersey — twelve in number, elected for life. This usage is entirely distinct from both the common-law jury meaning and the affidavit attestation meaning. Any research touching Jersey public law or Channel Islands legal history requires careful attention to this divergence.
Related Terms
Jurat — Assisa — Nisi Prius — Jury — Jurata Patriæ — Inquest — Verdict — Affidavit — Attestation Clause — Venire — Array — Royal Court of Jersey (jurats as officers)
JURATAmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
In old English law. A jury of twelve men sworn. Especially, a jury of the common law, as distinguished from the assisa. The jury clause in a nisi prius record, so called from the emphatic words of the old forms: "Jurata ponitur in respectum," the jury is put in respite. Townsh. Pl. 487. Also a jurat, (which see.)
JURATAmain
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910
made the subject of legal sanction or recognition. 4. Founded in law; organized upon the basis of a fundamental law, and existing for the recognition and protection of rights. Thus, the term ‘“jural society” is used as the synonym of “state” or “organized political community.” of twelve men sworn. In gld English law. A jury Especially, a jury of the common law, as distinguished from the assisa. The jury clause in a nisi prius record, so called from the emphatic words of the old forms: “Jurata ponitur in respectum,” the jury is put in respite. Townsh. Pl. 487. Also a jurat, (which see.)
JURATAmain
Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928
aldermen in others; stat. 1 Edw. IV.; 2 & 3 Edw. VI. c. 30; 13 Edw. I. c. 26. Officers in the island of Jersey, of whom there are twelve, members of the royal court, and elected for life; 1 Steph. Com., 11th ed. 108; L. R. 1 P. C. 94. JURATA (Lat.). In Old English Law. A jury of twelve men sworn. Es- pecially, a jury of the common law, as dis- tinguished from the assiza, or jury estab- lished or re-established by stat. Hen. II. The jurata, or common-law jury, was a jury called in to try the cause, upon the prayer of the parties themselves, in cases where a jury was not given by statute Hen. II., and as the jury was not given under the statute of Henry II., the writ of attaint provided in that statute would not lie against a jurata for false verdict. It was common for the parties to a cause to request that the cause might be decided by the assiza, sitting as a jurata, in order to save trouble of summoning a new jury, in which case "cadit assiza et vertitur in juratam," and the cause is said to be de- cided non in modum assizæ, but in modum juratæ. 1 Reeve, Hist. Eng. Law 335, 336; Glanville, lib. 13, c. 20; Bracton, lib. 3, с. 30. But this distinction has been long obsolete. Juratæ were divided into: first, jurata dilatoria, which inquires out offenderв against the law, and presents their names, together with their offences, to the judge, and which is of two kinds, major and minor, according to the extent of its jurisdiction; second, jurata judicaria, which gives ver- dict as to the matter of fact in issue, and is of two kinds, civilis, in civil causes, and criminalis, in criminal causes. Du Cange. A clause in nisi prius records called the jury clause, so named from the word jurata, with which its Latin form begins. This entry, jurata ponitur in respectu, is abol- ished. Com. Law Proc. Act, 1852, § 104; Whart. Law Lex.; 9 Co. 32; 59 Geo. III. c. 46; 4 Bla. Com. 342. Such trials were usually held in churches, in presence of bishops, priests, and secular judges, after three days fasting, confession, communion, etc. Du Cange. A certificate placed at the bottom of an affidavit, declaring that the witness has been sworn or affirmed to the truth of the facts therein alleged. Its usual form is, "Sworn (or affirmed) before me, the day of, 18-." A jurat.

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