Definition
A Latin term meaning "withstanding" or "hindering." Obstante does not function as a standalone legal term of art; it appears almost exclusively as the operative word within the compound phrase non obstante, meaning "notwithstanding." Standing alone, obstante describes the condition of something that stands in the way or presents an obstacle — typically a legal provision, royal prerogative, or prior authority that might otherwise block a given action or instrument.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering obstante in a historical source should treat it as a pointer term rather than a substantive entry. Its sole practical significance in legal research is as a component of non obstante, which carries the real doctrinal weight. If you find obstante cited in isolation in a historical pleading, statute, or treatise, check whether a non obstante clause or verdict formula is the actual subject of the surrounding text — the standalone appearance is almost certainly an abbreviation, a cross-reference shorthand, or a grammatical fragment of the larger phrase.
Because every major historical dictionary (Black's, Bouvier's, Rapalje & Lawrence, Burrill's) redirects immediately to non obstante, any corpus search using obstante alone will underperform. Searches in Law Mind sources should be run on the full phrase non obstante, and researchers should also check variant spellings and abbreviations (n.o.v. for non obstante veredicto) in older materials. Latin abbreviation practice in legal manuscripts and printed reports was inconsistent, and obstante may appear clipped from its prefix in marginalia or headnotes.
Historical Dictionary Support
All five historical dictionaries consulted are in complete agreement: obstante means "withstanding" or "hindering" and warrants no independent treatment beyond the redirect to non obstante. Burrill's is the only source to supply the Latin root (obstare, to stand in the way), which modestly aids comprehension but adds nothing operationally. No historical source assigns obstante a standalone legal meaning or independent doctrinal role. The unanimity here is itself informative — this is a term that historical lexicographers declined to expand upon precisely because its legal significance is exhausted by the compound phrase it anchors.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Non Obstante; Non Obstante Veredicto (N.O.V.)