Definition
Ordinatio is a Latin term used in early English legal texts to denote an ordinance — a formal legislative or regulatory enactment issued by royal or governmental authority. The term appears most prominently as the title of several ancient English statutes, particularly those issued during the reign of Edward I, and carries the sense of an official ordering or settlement of legal affairs within a defined subject matter or territory.
Notable examples include the *Ordinatio pro statu Hiberniæ* (Ordinance for the Regulation or Settlement of Ireland), enacted under Edward I, which addressed judicial administration in Ireland across eight chapters, and similar enactments governing forests, ecclesiastical matters, and other royal concerns. In ecclesiastical and canonical contexts, *ordinatio* could also refer to the formal ordering or appointment of a person to holy orders, though this usage is largely distinct from the statutory sense encountered in English legal sources.
Common Confusion
Ordinatio should not be conflated with the more familiar English descendant term "ordinance" in its modern municipal law sense. Contemporary usage of "ordinance" refers almost exclusively to local government legislation — city or county enactments. *Ordinatio* in historical legal sources refers to royal or parliamentary-level enactments with national or territorial scope, a much higher order of legal authority than a modern municipal ordinance.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering *ordinatio* in medieval English legal texts, year books, or early statutory compilations should treat it as a term of art pointing to a specific class of royal enactment distinct from statutes proper (*statuta*) and charters (*chartae*). The distinction between an *ordinatio* and a *statutum* was not always consistent in medieval practice — some enactments styled as ordinances had the practical force of statutes, while others were understood as temporary or administrative measures. This ambiguity can affect how later courts and commentators treated a given enactment's authority.
The *Ordinatio pro statu Hiberniæ* is a particularly significant research target because it represents an early framework for English governance of Ireland and appears in discussions of Anglo-Irish legal history. References in Reeves' *History of the English Law*, Crabb's *History*, and Barrington's *Observations on the Statutes* provide the principal secondary commentary on this and related enactments. Researchers should not expect uniform indexing: older compilations may list such instruments under their Latin titles, their English translations, or under the regnal year of enactment without the *ordinatio* label at all.
Because Burrill's entry appears to be cut off before completing its list of notable *ordinationes*, researchers should consult supplementary sources — including Reeves, the *Statutes of the Realm*, and Stubbs' *Select Charters* — for a fuller catalogue of enactments bearing this designation.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the core entry, defining *ordinatio* as an ordinance and citing its appearance in Fleta (lib. 2, c. 64, § 1) as well as its use as the title of ancient English statutes. Burrill specifically identifies the *Ordinatio pro statu Hiberniæ* (17 Edw. I) and directs readers to Reeves' *History of English Law*, Crabb's *History*, and Barrington's *Observations on the Statutes*. The entry appears incomplete as preserved, suggesting further examples were listed.
No other source dictionaries in the present corpus cover this term. The absence of *ordinatio* from later English legal dictionaries reflects both the term's displacement by anglicized equivalents and the narrowing of legal dictionary scope away from Latin statutory titles after the early nineteenth century. Researchers should not infer from this silence that the term was uncommon — it was simply absorbed into historical commentary rather than continuing as active legal vocabulary.
Jurisdictional Note
The term is essentially confined to English and Anglo-Irish legal history. It has no operative role in modern common law jurisdictions and will not appear in contemporary statutory or case law outside of historical quotation.