Definition
A Latin term from the civil and medieval legal traditions, meaning "weighed" or "that which has been weighed." Used in historical legal instruments and records to describe payment or delivery by weight, as distinguished from payment by tale (count). The term appears primarily in contexts involving precious metals, bullion, coin, or commodities where weight rather than numerical count was the operative measure of value or satisfaction. It functions as a participle of the Latin *pensare* (to weigh) and carries the specific legal sense of a transaction or obligation measured and discharged by weight. See *Libra pensa*.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers will encounter *pensata* almost exclusively in Latin legal records, medieval charters, plea rolls, and early English property or debt instruments. The practical significance lies in the distinction between payment by weight (*ad pensam* or *pensata*) and payment by tale (by count of coins): this distinction had legal consequence in actions for debt and could affect whether tender was legally sufficient. In early English law, silver paid *ad pensam* was subject to assay and scale, while silver paid by tale was counted coin by coin — the mode of payment could be expressly required or disputed in litigation over satisfaction of obligations.
Researchers working in pre-modern legal sources should treat *pensata* as a measurement qualifier attached to monetary or commodity terms, not as a substantive legal right or cause of action in itself. The term will not appear in modern legal sources or statutes; its domain is the medieval and early modern primary source record. When following the cross-reference to *Libra pensa* (literally "a pound weighed"), researchers will find the fuller doctrinal context, as *pensata* functions largely as the adjectival or participial form that modifies the weight-measure unit.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides only a bare-bones entry: "L. Lat. Weighed. See Libra pensa." This is characteristic of Burrill's treatment of purely Latin technical terms that functioned as qualifiers rather than freestanding legal concepts — the entry exists to catch the researcher who encounters the word in a source and needs a quick identification before being redirected. Burrill does not elaborate on legal tests, consequences, or applications, which signals that *pensata* had no independent doctrinal life in the common law tradition. Its significance was absorbed entirely into the broader concept of payment by weight, treated more fully under *Libra pensa* and related terms. No other dictionary in the standard shelf sources (Black's, Bouvier, Tomlin's) carries a distinct entry for *pensata* as a primary term, consistent with its character as a modifier rather than a concept.