Definition
An archaic and variant spelling of NOLLE PROSEQUI. The term appears in older legal materials as an alternative form of the Latin phrase denoting a prosecutor's or plaintiff's formal declaration of unwillingness to proceed with a prosecution or action, either in whole or in part. As Burrill notes, the form *noli prosequi* is incorrect — the grammatically proper construction is *nolle prosequi* — but the variant appears with sufficient frequency in historical sources that researchers encountering it should understand it as pointing to the same legal concept.
For full treatment of the doctrine, procedure, and legal effect, see the entry for NOLLE PROSEQUI.
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Common Confusion
NOLI PROSEQUI vs. NOLLE PROSEQUI: These are not two different things. *Noli prosequi* is a corrupted or archaic spelling of *nolle prosequi*. Researchers should not interpret the difference in spelling as indicating a difference in legal effect, procedural posture, or historical period of use. Always consult the *nolle prosequi* entry for substantive analysis.
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Why It Matters in Research
The primary research value of this entry is navigational: *noli prosequi* is a variant that appears in older reported cases, plea rolls, and treatises where copyists, printers, or authors either preserved an archaic form or introduced an error that became replicated. A researcher working through pre-nineteenth-century English or early American materials may encounter this spelling and should recognize it immediately as equivalent to *nolle prosequi* rather than treating it as a distinct procedural device.
The confusion is not trivial. Because Law Mind's corpus includes historical legal materials where spelling was not standardized, searches on *nolle prosequi* alone may miss instances recorded as *noli prosequi*. When researching dismissals, prosecutorial discretion, or the history of discontinuance in criminal or civil proceedings, consider running both forms as search terms.
No independent legal doctrine or distinct procedural meaning attaches to the *noli* form. It is purely a spelling variant, not a recognized alternative term with separate legal significance.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary identifies *noli prosequi* tersely and accurately: "An old, though incorrect form of nolle prosequi." The citation to "Com. 312" points readers toward a source confirming the grammatical error embedded in the variant. Burrill does not expand the entry further, appropriately treating this as a cross-reference matter rather than an independent doctrinal entry.
Historical sources generally do not treat *noli prosequi* as a meaningful alternative — where it appears, it is treated as the same thing as *nolle prosequi*, just misspelled. No historical dictionary in the Law Mind corpus assigns a distinct legal meaning to the variant form.
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