NUIT

2 definitions found across Law Mind sources

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Definition
Nuit is a French-derived legal term meaning "night." In early common law and in legal systems with French-language influence — including Norman English law, Louisiana civil law, and Canadian law — nuit appeared in doctrines and offenses where the time of night carried distinct legal significance. It is most commonly encountered in compound legal phrases and older statutes rather than as a standalone term. Its practical importance lies in distinguishing nocturnal conduct, which the law historically treated as more dangerous, more culpable, or as a separate category of offense from the same act committed by day. The term appears most prominently in historical English and Anglo-Norman legal texts where French remained the language of legal pleading and record-keeping. It surfaces in phrases such as "de nuit" (by night) and in the context of offenses like burglary, which at common law required entry in the nighttime to constitute the full offense. ---
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Nuit is a standard French noun meaning "night." It carries no specialized meaning in contemporary English outside of legal or historical French-language contexts. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Webster's 1913 does not list nuit as an English word. It was understood in the nineteenth century as a French term, not naturalized into general English usage. Editorial note: Unlike many Law Latin terms that crossed into everyday English legal vocabulary, nuit remained distinctly French in character. A researcher encountering it in an English-language legal document is almost certainly dealing with an Anglo-Norman source, a Louisiana or Quebec legal text, or a direct quotation from an older French-language legal authority. It should not be read as an anglicized term with independent English legal meaning. ---
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers will encounter nuit primarily in three contexts, each requiring a different interpretive approach. First, in Anglo-Norman and early English common law sources, nuit and its compounds (de nuit, par nuit) appear in statutes and treatises defining nocturnal offenses. The significance of nighttime in common law — particularly in burglary, where entry "in the night season" was a formal element — means that nuit in these sources is doing real definitional work, not merely descriptive work. Misreading the term as incidental will cause a researcher to miss the element entirely. Second, in Louisiana civil law materials and Quebec legal texts, nuit functions as an ordinary legal term with no special mystique — simply the time period between sunset and sunrise as defined by applicable code provisions. The civilian definition of night may differ from the common law definition, and researchers should not assume uniformity across these traditions. Third, in older English legal pleadings and Year Books, where Law French was the working language of the courts, nuit appears as part of a vocabulary that requires baseline familiarity with Law French to navigate correctly. Researchers working in these sources without that background risk systematic mistranslation. The Law Mind corpus includes materials spanning all three of these contexts, and the term's meaning cannot be determined without identifying which tradition the source document belongs to. A research trap: modern legal databases indexing older materials sometimes treat nuit as an OCR artifact or a foreign-language anomaly and strip it from search results. Searches on burglary, nocturnal, or nighttime offenses may be necessary to locate documents where nuit is the operative term in the original. ---
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's Law Dictionary does not carry a standalone entry for nuit. This is consistent with Bouvier's general practice of Latinizing or anglicizing French-derived terms rather than preserving Law French vocabulary in its original form. Bouvier treats the legal significance of nighttime under entries for specific offenses — particularly burglary — where the nocturnal element is discussed in English without preserving the French terminology. This is a meaningful gap. Researchers using Bouvier as a primary reference for Anglo-Norman or Louisiana sources will not find nuit flagged or defined, which can lead to the erroneous conclusion that the term carries no special legal weight. Older French-language legal dictionaries and Law French glossaries are the appropriate supplementary sources for this term. No historical legal dictionary in the standard Law Mind shelf provides a substantive entry for nuit as an independent term. Its legal content must be reconstructed from context and from the doctrine governing nocturnal offenses in the applicable jurisdiction and period. ---
Jurisdictional Note
In common law jurisdictions, the legal definition of "night" for purposes of offenses requiring nocturnal conduct varied by statute and era — some fixed it astronomically (period between sunset and sunrise), others by visibility standards. Louisiana and Quebec, drawing on civilian tradition, define nuit by code provision. Researchers should not assume that nuit in a French-language source maps cleanly onto the common law definition of nighttime. ---
Related Terms
Burglary — Nocturnal offense at common law for which nuit was a defining element Law French — The legal dialect in which nuit appears in Anglo-Norman sources De nuit — Compound phrase meaning "by night" or "in the night" the more common form in Anglo-Norman pleadings Night — The anglicized counterpart; see entries on nocturnal offenses Larceny de nuit — Nighttime thefta recognized aggravated form in some civilian systems Louisiana Civil Law — Primary modern jurisdiction where French legal vocabulary including nuit remains in use
NUITmain
Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928
DETINUE (Lat. detinere, de, and te- nere, to hold from; to withhold). In Practice. A form of action which lies for the recovery, in specie, of personal chattels from one who acquired possession of them lawfully but retains it without right, together with damages for the deten- tion. 3 Bla. Com. 151. It is generally laid down as necessary to the main- tenance of this action that the original taking should have been lawful, thus distinguishing it from re- plevin, which lies in case the original taking is un- lawful Brooke, Abr. Detinue, 21, 36, 68. It is said, however, by Chitty, that it lies in cases of tortious taking, except as a distress, and that it is thus dis- tinguished from replevin, which lay originally only where a distress was made, as was claimed, wrong- fully; 1 Chit. Pl. 112. See 3 Sharsw. Bla. Com. 152. In England this action has yielded to the more prac- tical and less technical action trover, but was for- merly much used in the slaveholding states of the United States for the recovery of slaves: 4 Munf. 72; 4 Ala. 221; 8 Bibb 510; 1 Ov. 187; 10 Ired. 124. The action lies only to recover such goods as are capable of being identified and distin- guished from all others; Andr. Steph. Pl. 79, n.; Com. Dig. Detinue, B, C; Co. Litt. 286 b; 1 J. J. Marsh. 500; 15 B. Monr. 479;2 Greene 266; 5 Sneed 562; in cases where the defendant had originally lawful possession, which he retains without right; 12 Ala. 279; 3 Mo. 45; 4 B. Monr. 365; 11 Ala. N. s. 322; as where goods were delivered for applica- tion to a specific purpose; 4 B. & P. 140; but a tort in taking may be waived, it is said, and detinue brought; 2 A. K. Marsh. 268; 14 Mo. 491; 15 Ark. 235. That it lies whether the taking was tortious or not, see 18 Ala. 151: 9 Ala. N. S. 780; 1 Mo. 749. lt may be maintained for the recovery of a policy of insurance where it has been paid for, but is withheld by the agent who wrote it; 40 III. App. 132. The property must be in existence at the time; 2 Dana 333; 1 Ala. N. S. 203; 1 Ired. 523; see 13 Mo. 612; 12 Ark. 368; but need not be in the pos- session of the defendant; 1 Dana 110; 5 Yerg. 301; 3 Miss. 304; 19 Ala. N. S. 491; 23 Mo. 389; 18 B. Monr. 86. See 4 Dev. & B. 458; 10 Ired. 124. The plaintiff must have had actual pos- session, or a right to immediate possession; 2 Mo. 45; 1 Wash. Va. 308; 4 Bibb 518;7 Ala. N. s. 189; 6 Ired. 88; 2 Jones, N. C. 168; 2 Md. Ch. Dec. 178; 34 Neb. 93; but a special property, as that of a bailee, with actual possession at the time of delivery to the defendant, is sufficient; 2 Wms. Saund. 47 b; 9 Leigh 158; Cam. & N. 416; 1 Miss. 315; 4 B. Monr. 365; 2 Mo. 45; 22 Ala. 534. A mere equitable claim reserved by a ven- dor on the sale of personal property for the unpaid purchase money, is not sufficient title to authorize a recovery in detinue; 94 Ala. 616. Either want of title in the plain- tiff or the absence of actual possession in defendant, when the action was brought, will prevent plaintiff's recovery, as con- structive possession in defendant from the fact that he had the title is not sufficient; 36 W. Va. 423. A demand is not requisite except to entitle the plaintiff to damages for detention between the time of the de- mand and that of the commencement of the action; 4 Bibb 340; 14 Mo. 491; 3 Litt. 46; 8 Munf. 122; 12 Ala. N. S. 135; 19 S. E. Rep. (N. C.) 599. See 90 Ala. 253, The declaration may state a bailment or trover; though a simple allegation that the goods came to the defendant's hands is suf- ficient; Brooke, Abr. Detinue, 10. The bail- ment or trover alleged is not traversable; Brooke, Abr. Detinue, 1, 2, 50. It must de- scribe the property with accuracy; 2 III. 206; 18 Ired. 172; 2 Greene, Ia. 266. The plea of non detinet is the general is- sue, and special matter may be given in evidence under it; Co. Litt. 283; 16 E. L. & Eq. 514; 2 Munf. 329; 6 Humphr. 108; 94 Ala. 616; including title in a third per- son; 8 Dana 422; 12 Ala. N. S. 823; eviction, or accidental loss by a bailee; 3 Dana 36. The plea of not guilty is not appropriate; 40 III. App. 182. The defendant in this action frequently prayed garnishment of a third person, who he alleged owned or had an interest in the thing demanded; but this he could not do without confessing the possession of the thing demanded, and making privity of bailment; Brooke, Abr. Garnishment, 1, Interpleader, 8. If the prayer of garnish- ment was allowed, a sci. fa. issued against the person named as garnishee. If he made default, the plaintiff recovered against the defendant the chattel demanded, but no damages. If the garnishee appeared, and the plaintiff made default, the garnishee recovered. If both appeared, and the plain- tiff recovered, he had judgment against the defendant for the chattel demanded, and a distringas in execution; and against the garnishee a judgment for damages, and a fi. fa. in execution. The judgment is in the alternative that the plaintiff recover the goods, or the value thereof if he cannot

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