Definition
Ne admittas (Latin: "that you admit not") is a prohibitory writ in English ecclesiastical practice directed to a bishop, commanding him not to admit any clerk to a disputed church living while litigation over the right of presentation is pending. It issues in connection with an action of quare impedit — the proceeding by which a patron asserts the right to present a clerk to a vacant benefice — when either the plaintiff or the defendant fears that the bishop will install the opposing party's nominee before the dispute is resolved. The writ takes its name from the opening words of its Latin form: *Prohibemus vobis ne admittatis personam* ("We forbid you that you admit the person").
The writ is purely preventive. It does not resolve who holds the right of presentation; it simply freezes the bishop's power of admission until the court determines the underlying contest.
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Common Confusion
Ne admittas is easily confused with two related but distinct instruments in the quare impedit procedural family. First, it should not be conflated with the quare impedit writ itself, which initiates the action to try the right of presentation. Ne admittas is an ancillary, interim writ — a preservation measure issued once that action is pending. Second, Rapalje & Lawrence's entry runs directly into the entry for *ne disturba pas*, the general issue plea in quare impedit, and the proximity of the two in historical dictionaries has caused occasional conflation. Ne disturba pas is a pleading defense denying obstruction; ne admittas is an affirmative preventive writ directed at the bishop.
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Why It Matters in Research
This term surfaces almost exclusively in historical materials concerning English ecclesiastical law and the common law writ system. Researchers will encounter it in:
**Sources on quare impedit.** Ne admittas has no independent life in the reports; it appears as a procedural satellite to quare impedit. Any research into the quare impedit action — whether in Fitzherbert's *Natura Brevium*, the old abridgements, or commentary on advowson and benefice disputes — may involve this writ without it receiving a headnote of its own.
**Historical limitations of the term.** The writ is a creature of English ecclesiastical practice and the common law's interface with church governance over benefice appointments. It has no American legal counterpart and does not survive in modern practice. Researchers working in post-abolition contexts (after the common law writs were systematically replaced by statutory and equitable remedies) will find the term only in historical commentary, not in active procedure.
**Jurisdictional disappearance.** Because the writ depended on a functioning system of episcopal admission to benefices intertwined with common law courts' supervisory jurisdiction, it ceased to have practical relevance wherever the established church framework dissolved. It does not appear in American case law as operative procedure.
**Dictionary variation to watch.** The Black's first edition entry is truncated — the source text is visibly cut off mid-sentence — meaning Black's first edition is unreliable as a standalone source for this term. Black's second edition, Burrill, and Rapalje & Lawrence together provide the complete picture. Researchers relying solely on an abridged version of Black's first edition may have an incomplete definition.
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Historical Dictionary Support
The four source dictionaries are in substantial agreement on the core definition, with useful variation in emphasis.
Burrill offers the fullest technical account: the writ "lies for the plaintiff in a quare impedit, where he suspects that the bishop will admit the defendant's or any other clerk, pending the suit; forbidding the bishop to admit any clerk whatever till such contention be determined." Burrill's formulation makes explicit that the prohibition extends to *any* clerk — not merely the opposing party's nominee — during the pendency of litigation. This breadth distinguishes it from a targeted personal prohibition and frames it as a general freeze on the bishop's admission power for the duration of the contest.
Black's second edition and Rapalje & Lawrence both note that the writ could issue at the request of either plaintiff or defendant, depending on which party feared the bishop's premature action. This bilateral availability is a useful procedural detail that Burrill does not emphasize.
Fitzherbert's *Natura Brevium*, cited by Black's second edition (Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 37), is the primary historical authority for this writ and the natural starting point for any deeper research into its form and function. The dictionaries collectively treat this citation as definitive.
No source attempts a modern reformulation or notes any survival of the writ. All treat it as a historical artifact of English ecclesiastical procedure.
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Jurisdictional Note
Ne admittas is an English writ with no recognized American equivalent. Its operation presupposes the established Church of England framework and the common law courts' jurisdiction over benefice presentation disputes — conditions that do not exist in United States law. Researchers will encounter the term only in English legal history, comparative ecclesiastical law, and annotated editions of historical English practice materials.
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