Definition
MISA is a Law Latin term appearing in old English legal records with two distinct meanings:
1. Procedural: The mise or issue joined in a writ of right — the formal point of contention submitted for resolution in that proceeding. In this sense, misa is the Latin form of the Law French mise as it appears in the record of a writ of right.
2. Contractual/Transactional: A compact, agreement, or form of compromise. In this sense, misa reflects the broader documentary usage of mise in medieval English records, where parties reached a settlement or accommodation outside strict adjudication.
Burrill further preserves a related plural form — MISÆ — used in old practice to mean costs of suit or charges, appearing in phrases such as cum misis et custibus (with costs and charges) and pro misis et custagiis (for costs and expenses). This third sense is distinct from the two above and closer to the modern concept of court costs.
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Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A surname only. No legal or technical meaning survives in modern English usage.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Not listed as a common English word.
Editorial note: Misa has no foothold in modern legal or common vocabulary. Researchers encountering it in historical records must determine from context which of the three distinct senses applies — procedural issue, private compact, or costs of suit — as the word carries none of its technical weight into contemporary usage.
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Common Confusion
MISA, MISE, and MISÆ are closely related but not interchangeable. Misa is the Latinized form of the Law French mise; misæ is the Latin plural used specifically in the costs-of-suit sense. A researcher who treats all three as equivalents risks misreading the procedural posture of an old record. The writ-of-right sense of misa (issue joined) is wholly distinct from the compact sense, and both differ from the costs sense carried by misæ. See MISE for the Law French parent term.
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Why It Matters in Research
Misa appears almost exclusively in medieval English legal records and is essentially a dead term by the early modern period. Researchers working in the Law Mind corpus are most likely to encounter it in one of three documentary contexts:
First, in records of the writ of right — one of the most archaic of the real actions — where misa marks the formal issue placed before the court or grand assize. Understanding this sense is necessary to follow the procedural narrative of such records, as the mise was the pivot point of the entire proceeding.
Second, in compromise instruments and settlement records where parties agreed to resolve a dispute by compact. Here misa shades into the broader political and diplomatic sense of mise, as in the Mise of Amiens or the Mise of Lewes — though those instruments use the French form. Recognizing misa in this contractual sense prevents misclassification of a settlement document as a pleading.
Third, in the costs-of-suit sense carried by misæ, researchers may encounter the phrases cum misis et custibus or pro misis et custagiis in writs, judgments, or fee records. Burrill cites Sir Thomas Raymond's Reports and Fleta for these usages; both are genuine sources, and the phrase pattern is a reliable signal that the document concerns recovery or taxation of litigation expenses.
The principal research trap is treating misa as a synonym for mise without accounting for the costs sense preserved only in the plural misæ. Burrill is the most granular of the historical dictionaries on this point and should be the first stop when the term appears in an unfamiliar document context.
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Historical Dictionary Support
The four source dictionaries are in substantial agreement on the two primary senses of misa — procedural issue in a writ of right, and compact or compromise — and all trace these meanings to the same authorities: Spelman for the writ-of-right sense, Cowell for the compact sense. Black's first and second editions reproduce the same entry nearly verbatim.
Rapalje & Lawrence add a citation from Hawks (North Carolina Reports), suggesting the term or its functional equivalent appeared in American practice in the nineteenth century, though the context in that citation appears to be historical reference rather than active doctrine.
Burrill is the most expansive, preserving the misæ form with its costs-of-suit meaning and supplying additional source references (Fleta, Dyer) that the other dictionaries omit. His note that Kitchin, West, and Cowell are further resources points toward the older civilian and common-law glossarists as the deep genealogy of the term.
What the historical dictionaries collectively miss is any guidance on distinguishing the three senses in practice. None provides a documentary template or contextual test. The researcher is left to infer from surrounding language in the source record which sense is operative.
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Jurisdictional Note
Misa in its procedural sense is specific to the old English real actions and has no surviving jurisdictional application. Its appearance in American records (see Rapalje & Lawrence) reflects the carry-over of English forms into early colonial and state practice, not an independent American doctrine.
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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Writ of Right (for the procedural context of misa as issue joined); Mise (for the Law French parent term and its political and settlement uses).
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