NOLLE

3 definitions found across Law Mind sources

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NOLLEAuthored
The Law Mind • 712 words
Definition
Latin infinitive meaning "to be unwilling" or "to refuse." In legal usage, nolle functions primarily as a component of the phrase nolle prosequi, but it also carries independent weight as a civil law term denoting a deliberate act of refusal made under full knowledge and free will. Two distinct legal contexts apply: 1. Criminal procedure. Nolle appears in the phrase nolle prosequi — "to be unwilling to prosecute" — designating the formal act by which a prosecutor discontinues criminal proceedings against a defendant, either entirely or as to a particular charge. In practice, "nolle" is commonly used as shorthand for nolle prosequi, and a case that has been dropped is said to have been "nolled" or "nolle prossed." 2. Civil law (historical). In Roman and civil law jurisprudence, nolle denoted a conscious, voluntary refusal — an act of will directed against a course of action. It was technically distinguished from non velle (merely not willing, a passive absence of desire) in that nolle implied active, informed unwillingness. The maxim ejus est nolle qui potest velle — "he who is able to will is able to refuse" — captures the doctrine that the capacity for positive volition implies the corresponding capacity for negative refusal.
Common Confusion
Nolle and non velle are easily conflated because both describe an absence of positive will. The civil law distinction is precise: non velle is passive (simply not wanting), while nolle is active (refusing, with knowledge). This distinction mattered in civil law contexts involving consent, agency, and capacity. In modern common law research, the distinction rarely appears outside historical civil law sources, but misreading nolle as mere indifference — rather than conscious refusal — distorts the meaning of early civilian materials.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encounter nolle almost exclusively as shorthand for nolle prosequi in modern case law and court records. When a docket or reporter uses "nolle" alone — "the case was nolled," "entered a nolle" — it uniformly refers to a prosecutorial discontinuance, not a standalone term of art. Recognize this compression in historical dockets, where the full phrase was often abbreviated to "nolle pros." or simply "nolle." The civil law meaning of nolle as an act of informed refusal surfaces in older treatises and civil law dictionaries but is essentially absent from modern common law practice. Researchers working with early American or colonial legal materials influenced by civilian tradition should not assume the term is always shorthand for nolle prosequi; context in pre-19th-century sources may invoke the Roman law distinction between nolle and non velle, particularly in discussions of consent, testamentary capacity, or contractual intent. The maxim ejus est nolle qui potest velle is a useful doctrinal anchor in historical sources addressing capacity and voluntary action — it affirms that legal capacity for agreement presupposes capacity for refusal.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill and Anderson agree on the core Latin sense — refusal under full knowledge — but each emphasizes a different dimension. Burrill focuses on the civil law conceptual architecture, preserving the nolle/non velle distinction and citing Calvinus's Lexicon Juridicum, a standard civil law reference. This grounds nolle as a term with philosophical precision in the Roman law tradition. Anderson, by contrast, pivots immediately to nolle prosequi and its procedural operation in criminal practice, reflecting the term's dominant modern common law usage. Neither dictionary addresses the transition fully: nolle entered common law usage almost entirely through its fixed compound nolle prosequi, and the standalone civil law meaning became a scholarly artifact rather than living doctrine. Historical dictionaries written from a common law perspective may treat the civil law distinction as a curiosity; civilian-inflected dictionaries preserve it as substantive. Researchers should calibrate which tradition their source is writing from.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Nolle Prosequi
Related Terms
Nolle prosequi — the primary legal compound; the term as used in criminal practice Non velle — the civil law counterpart; passive absence of willcontrasted with nolle Volo — the affirmative will; completes the civil law triad with nolle and non velle Discontinuance — the modern procedural equivalent of nolle prosequi in civil practice Dismissal — the court-ordered analogue; distinguished from the prosecutor's voluntary nolle Nol-pros — colloquial and docket shorthand for nolle prosequi
NOLLEmain
Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890
L. To not wish or desire: non velle. Compare VOLO. Nolle prosequi. To not care to proceed. A record entry that the prosecutor does not care to proceed further in the particular case. An agreement not to proceed further in that suit, as to the particular person or cause of action to which it is applied.3 Said of a judgment in a criminal case by which the attorney-general, or other representative of the state, voluntarily declares that he will not further prosecute a suit or indictment, or a particular count, or as to a particular defendant.4 1 Rogers v. Elliott, 146 Mass. 351 (March 2, 1888), cases, holding that a person who by reason of a sunstroke was peculiarly susceptible to the noise caused by the ringing of a church bell, situated directly opposite his house in a thickly populated district, cannot, in the absence of evidence of express malice, or that the bell was objectionable to persons of ordinary health and strength, maintain an action against the custodian of the church for sufferings caused by the ringing of the bell. 2 Appeal of Ladies' Decorative Art Club, 22 W. N. 75 (April 23, 1888). Affirmed the lower court in enjoining the hammering of brass by the pupils of an art school located in a thickly populated square in the city of Philadelphia, to which the plaintiff, with his family, had moved five years after the school had been opened, and into an adjoining house. Ball v. Ray, 8 Ch. Ap. 467 (1872), and Broder v. Saillard, 2 Ch. Div. 692 (1876), followed. See also Yocum v. Hotel St. George Co., 18 Abb. N. Cas. 340 (1886), cases, in which the noise and vibration caused by an electric engine and dynamos was enjoined; 23 Cent. Law J. 510 (1886) - Solicitors' Jour. (London). 3 Minor v. Mechanics' Bank, 1 Pet. 74 (1828), Story, J. • Commonwealth v. Casey, 12 Allen, 218 (1866), cases. Sometimes spoken of as allowing a nolle. Not a bar to another prosecution for the same offense, but such termination as will allow an action for malicious prosecution. Nolo contendere. pute it. See PROSEQUI. I do not care to disA plea in effect the same as a plea of "guilty," so far at least as regards proceedings on the particular indictment.3
NOLLEmain
Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1870
Lat. To be unwilling; to will not to do a thing; to refuse to do a thing. Used, in the civil law, to denote a voluntary act under full knowledge. Calv. Lex. A distinction was made between nolle and non velle. Id. Ejus est nolle, qui potest velle, (q. v.)

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