Definition
An archaic Latin term appearing in early common law texts, specifically in Bracton, as a variant spelling of *obtulit* — the third-person singular perfect indicative of the Latin verb *offerre*, meaning "he offered" or "he tendered." In procedural legal contexts, *obtulit* (and by extension *optulit*) denoted a formal tender or offer made in a legal proceeding, particularly the presentment of a writ, a sum of money, or other thing to a court or opposing party. The term carries no independent substantive meaning; its legal significance derives entirely from the act of offering or tendering it describes.
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Common Confusion
Rapalje & Lawrence's entry creates potential confusion by pairing the reference to *optulit* with the definition of *opus* (work; labor; the product of work or labor) in what appears to be a compressed cross-reference entry. These are distinct terms. *Optulit* is a verb form (a past-tense offering or tender); *opus* is a noun denoting work or its product. A researcher encountering the Rapalje & Lawrence entry should read it as two separate items: *optulit* directing to *obtulit*, and *opus* defined independently.
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Why It Matters in Research
Researchers will encounter *optulit* almost exclusively in one context: Bracton's *De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae*, the thirteenth-century treatise that serves as a foundational source for the early common law of England. Burrill identifies the specific locus as folio 354 and 354b. The form *optulit* is a scribal or orthographic variant of *obtulit* — not a term of art in its own right — and should be treated as such when parsing Bracton's Latin. Medieval legal Latin manuscripts frequently exhibit spelling variation of this kind, and a search keyed only to *optulit* will miss the far larger body of occurrences under the standard *obtulit* form.
For corpus researchers working with Law Mind sources that include Bracton or derivative texts, the practical consequence is straightforward: do not treat *optulit* and *obtulit* as separate index entries. Any research thread that leads to this term should immediately pivot to *obtulit* and to the broader procedural concept of tender or formal offer in early common law pleading.
The term has no modern usage in legal practice or drafting. It surfaces only in historical scholarship, in editions and translations of Bracton, and occasionally in annotated treatments of early English procedure.
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Historical Dictionary Support
The two source dictionaries handle this term minimally and consistently. Burrill provides the more useful entry, identifying *optulit* as an old form of *obtulit* sourced to Bracton at folio 354 and 354b — a direct, reliable citation to a real text. Rapalje & Lawrence group the term in a compressed entry alongside *opus*, which risks confusion but does not contradict Burrill.
Neither source attempts a substantive definition beyond the cross-reference to *obtulit*, which is appropriate: *optulit* carries no independent doctrinal content. Historical dictionaries generally treat spelling variants of Latin legal terms this way, as navigational pointers rather than independent entries. Researchers should not expect richer treatment in other period dictionaries; the term's obscurity in secondary sources reflects its purely orthographic character.
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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: BRACTON; TENDER (Pleading and Procedure)
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