Definition
An Anglo-French legal term with three distinct historical meanings, each largely obsolete in modern practice:
1. The issue in a writ of right. In old English real actions, the mise was the formal point upon which the parties joined issue — the ultimate question of title submitted for determination. When the tenant in a writ of right pleaded that his title was better than the demandant's, both parties were said to "join the mise on the mere right," placing the entire dispute on that single issue of superior right to the land.
2. Expenses, costs, or disbursements in an action. Used in this sense both in the singular and, more commonly, in the plural form mises, paralleling the Latin misae. This meaning survives in vestigial form in certain older legal instruments and historical cost records.
3. A tribute, tax, or honorary gift. Historically, a payment made to a new sovereign or lord at the commencement of his reign or tenure — in Wales, a gift from the people to a new Prince of Wales; in the county palatine of Chester, a tribute paid at the change of the earldom. Also used more broadly to describe a payment made by way of contract or composition to purchase a liberty or privilege (in this sense sometimes rendered mise-money).
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "The issue in a writ of right. Expense; cost; disbursement. A tax or tallage; in Wales, an honorary gift of the people to a new king or prince of Wales."
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "The issue in a writ of right. Expense; cost; disbursement. [Obs.] A tax or tallage; in Wales, an honorary gift of the people to a new prince of Wales; also, a tribute paid in the county palatine of Chester at the change of the owner of the earldom. [Obs.]"
Webster's 1913 treats nearly all senses as obsolete, which accurately reflects their standing by the nineteenth century. The common and legal definitions are essentially co-extensive here because the term never crossed into general English usage — the common dictionaries are simply recording what the legal sources report. Researchers should not expect to encounter mise outside of legal, historical, or antiquarian contexts.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
Mise on the mere right: The specific form of mise arising in a writ of right where both parties submit the entire question of title to determination. This is the most technically significant usage in legal sources.
Mise-money: A payment made by contract or composition to acquire a liberty, privilege, or right. Distinguished from the tribute sense by its transactional (rather than feudal-obligatory) character. Noted by Blount and carried into Black's 2nd edition.
Mises (plural): The costs and disbursements sense, corresponding to the Latin misae. Used in this plural form in early English procedural records and in Britton.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in English real property history, medieval and early modern land litigation, or the history of real actions will encounter mise most frequently in the writ-of-right context. The term is a signal that the source material involves one of the oldest forms of English land law — the writ of right was abolished in England by the Real Property Limitation Act 1833 and the Common Law Procedure Act 1860, so sources using mise in its procedural sense are almost certainly pre-Victorian.
The costs-and-disbursements sense creates a trap: a researcher reading "mises" in an older record of litigation may initially read it as a procedural term relating to the issue joined, when in fact it refers to an accounting of expenses. Context — particularly whether the entry appears in a pleading record versus a financial account — is the key disambiguator.
The tribute sense is largely confined to Welsh constitutional history, the history of the palatinate of Chester, and antiquarian legal sources. It will appear in chronicles, surveys, and feudal records rather than court proceedings, and researchers in those areas should be aware that mise carries this distinct fiscal meaning in those contexts.
Cross-corpus connections: Entries on writs of right, real actions, and the mise should be read alongside material on the grand assize and trial by battle, since the writ of right was the action within which those forms of trial — and thus the mise as issue — operated.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill provides the most complete treatment, tracing the term to Anglo-French cost or expense and noting the more technical legal Latin parallel misae as used in Britton. Burrill's derivation from the Latin missum (sent, put) connects to Coke's explanation that the cause was "put" (missa) upon this point, which gives the mise-as-issue its name. Coke on Littleton (294b) is the foundational authority cited.
Black's (both editions) confirms the two primary legal senses — issue in a writ of right and expenses/costs — and the 2nd edition adds mise-money with the Blount attribution. Neither Black's edition provides the Welsh tribute sense explicitly, though Webster's and Wiktionary preserve it. Burrill is the richer source for the procedural history; Black's is adequate for the costs sense.
All sources agree the term is historical. None of the legal dictionaries treat mise as a term in active legal use at the time of their composition. The practical implication for researchers is that mise will appear in sources, not in live disputes — it is a reading and interpretation term, not a drafting term.
Jurisdictional Note
Mise as a procedural term is specific to English common law and jurisdictions that directly inherited the writ-of-right system. It has no meaningful parallel in civil law or equity traditions. American courts inherited English real actions in early colonial and post-independence periods but abolished the writ of right early, making mise-as-issue extremely rare in American legal sources. The Welsh and Cheshire tribute senses are entirely local to those jurisdictions.