Definition
In English legal history, originalia were transcripts transmitted from the Court of Chancery to the remembrancer's office in the Court of Exchequer. These documents recorded the originating writs and administrative orders issued out of Chancery that had financial or fiscal consequences requiring the Exchequer's attention. Originalia are distinguished from recorda, which contained the judgments and pleadings in actions actually tried before the barons of the Exchequer. The term is Latin plural, meaning roughly "original things" or "originating documents," and its use is confined to the historical practice of the English royal courts.
Why It Matters in Research
Originalia is a term of English administrative legal history with no surviving counterpart in modern practice. Researchers encountering it in historical sources should understand three things.
First, the term marks the boundary between two distinct record-keeping functions within the medieval and early modern Exchequer. Originalia were the intake channel from Chancery — they documented the initiation of royal financial claims or obligations. Recorda documented what the Exchequer itself adjudicated. Confusing the two can lead a researcher to look in the wrong archive or misread a procedural reference in a historical text.
Second, originalia are relevant to research touching the remembrancer's office, which maintained several classes of records. The King's Remembrancer and the Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer each kept distinct series of documents. Researchers working with Exchequer records in the Public Records Office (now The National Archives, Kew) should be aware that originalia would fall within the E series of Exchequer records, not the common law plea rolls.
Third, the maxim appended to this entry in the historical dictionaries — Origine propria neminem posse voluntate sua eximi manifestum est ("It is evident that no one is able, of his own pleasure, to do away with his proper origin") — is drawn from Justinian's Code (10.38.4) and is a separate legal principle entirely. Its inclusion alongside the definition of originalia in Black's and Rapalje & Lawrence is an artifact of alphabetical proximity in the source texts, not a substantive connection. Researchers should not read the maxim as illuminating the meaning of originalia.
Historical Dictionary Support
All three source dictionaries — Black's (1st Ed.), Black's (2nd Ed.), and Rapalje & Lawrence — are in complete agreement on the definition, and all three trace the content of that definition to Wharton's Law Lexicon. This convergence reflects a chain of citation rather than independent verification, meaning the historical record on this term is thin and derivative. No source provides procedural detail about how originalia were prepared, how frequently they were used, or when the practice fell into disuse. The 2nd edition of Black's corrects a minor typographical inconsistency from the 1st edition ("records" versus "recorda") but is otherwise identical in substance.
The appended maxim (Origine propria...) appears in both Black's editions following the definition without transition or explanation. Rapalje & Lawrence separates it more clearly. Broom's Legal Maxims, cited in Black's, treats the maxim in the context of domicile and national origin — confirming it is independent of the records-management meaning of originalia.
No historical dictionary in the source set addresses the archival fate of originalia, their relationship to the fine rolls or patent rolls of Chancery, or their use as evidentiary documents in Exchequer proceedings. Researchers needing that level of detail should consult specialized works on English administrative history, such as those published by the Selden Society or the Public Record Office's own record guides.
Jurisdictional Note
Originalia is exclusively a term of English legal history. It has no equivalent in Scots law, Irish law, or any American jurisdiction. It appears in American legal dictionaries solely as a matter of historical reference and comparative legal vocabulary.