Definition
In Roman civil law, *temere* (sometimes rendered *pemere* in older transcriptions, likely a scribal variant) means rashly or inconsiderately. The term describes conduct undertaken without just cause or sound legal basis. A plaintiff was said to *temere litigare*—to litigate rashly—when the suit was brought out of malice or without any cognizable ground of action. The concept carried legal consequence: a litigant who proceeded *temere* could be subject to sanctions or penalties under Roman civil procedure for vexatious litigation.
Common Confusion
The headword *pemere* as it appears in some historical transcriptions of Black's Law Dictionary is almost certainly a typographical corruption of the Latin *temere*, which means rashly or without cause. Researchers encountering *pemere* in older printed dictionaries or indexes should treat it as equivalent to *temere* and search accordingly. The confusion is a product of early printing conventions and manuscript transcription, not a distinct legal term.
Why It Matters in Research
This term is primarily a trap for the unwary researcher. *Pemere* does not exist as an independent Latin legal term; it is an artifact of typographic error in printed legal dictionaries. A researcher who encounters it in an index or citation and searches for it as a freestanding concept will find nothing useful in Roman law sources or civil law treatises. The operative concept is *temere litigare*—rash litigation—which connects to the broader Roman law doctrine penalizing vexatious or malicious suits. That doctrine has analogues in modern law: sanctions for frivolous litigation, abuse of process, and malicious prosecution all draw on the same underlying principle that courts should not be weaponized without legitimate cause. Researchers tracing the historical roots of anti-vexatious-litigation doctrine should follow the *temere litigare* thread through civil law sources, not this headword.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary is the sole historical source offering this entry, and its value here is limited to confirming the definition of *temere* as it applied to rash plaintiffs in Roman civil procedure. The entry cites Brissonius—Barnabé Brisson's *De Verbis Juris* (various early modern editions), a standard lexicon of Roman legal Latin—as the underlying authority. That citation is accurate; Brisson's work does treat *temere* in the context of litigation conduct. No other major historical legal dictionary (Bouvier, Burrill, Tomlin, Jacob) carries a *pemere* entry, which further supports the conclusion that this is a transcription error rather than a term with independent legal standing. The historical dictionaries uniformly treat rash litigation under *temeritas* or *temere litigare*, not under any variant spelling resembling *pemere*.