Definition
A Latin phrase meaning "by the consideration (judgment) of the court." Used in old English legal practice to denote that a ruling, judgment, or order issued by the authority and deliberation of the court itself, as distinguished from a judgment entered by default, consent, or ministerial act. The phrase signals that the court exercised its own collective reasoning and discretion in reaching the result.
Note: The term as submitted ("Per Oconsiderationem Curiz") appears to be a transcription error or typographical corruption of the standard Latin form *Per Considerationem Curiae*. This entry treats it accordingly.
---
Common Language
The component words have ordinary English counterparts. "Consideration" in modern usage refers broadly to careful thought or regard (Wiktionary: "the process of considering; continuous and careful thought"). In Webster's 1913, "consideration" carries the sense of "the act or process of considering; continuous careful thought; examination; meditation." "Curia" simply means "court" in Latin.
The legal phrase, however, is a term of art from medieval English practice and carries a precise procedural meaning that neither the English word "consideration" nor "court" conveys on its own. In legal usage, *consideratio curiae* was the formal expression for the court's judgment or authoritative determination — not merely reflection or deliberation, but the binding act of judicial decision. The coincidence with the contract-law term "consideration" is purely linguistic and the two concepts are entirely unrelated.
---
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering this phrase in Year Books or early common law records should understand that it marks a judgment as one issuing from the court's own authority and deliberation — a distinction that carried procedural weight in an era when different kinds of entries on the record had different legal consequences.
**Transcription and variant spelling traps.** Year Book Latin was frequently abbreviated, corrupted in manuscript copying, and inconsistently transcribed by later editors. The form "Per Oconsiderationem Curiz" (as it appears in some secondary sources) is almost certainly a misprint or scribal corruption. Researchers working with early printed editions of the Year Books should cross-check against multiple transcriptions. The standard and reliable form is *Per Considerationem Curiae*.
**Corpus connections.** This phrase belongs to a cluster of Latin formulae used in Year Book entries to characterize the mode and authority by which a judgment issued. Related formulae appear throughout Year Book materials indexed in the Law Mind corpus. Researchers tracing the form and language of early English judgments will find this phrase useful as a marker of judicial, as opposed to ministerial or default, action.
**Historical source limitations.** Black's 2nd Edition is the only shelf source that records this term, and its entry is brief to the point of being a gloss rather than a definition. Researchers needing fuller context should consult primary Year Book materials directly, as the secondary dictionary record is thin.
---
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) defines the phrase as "By the consideration (judgment) of the court," noting its use in "old practice" and citing a Year Book reference: *Yearb. M. 1 Edw.* (Year Book, Michaelmas Term, 1 Edward — the specific Edward regnal year is not identified in the entry). The parenthetical gloss "(judgment)" is editorially significant: Black's signals that *consideratio* in this context means not merely deliberation but the formal judicial determination itself.
No other shelf source in the Law Mind corpus records this term independently. The absence from later editions of Black's and from other historical law dictionaries suggests the phrase fell out of active use as Year Book Latin gave way to more standardized legal English in pleading and reporting. Researchers should not expect to find it in post-seventeenth-century sources without it being treated as a historical curiosity or antiquarian reference.
---
Jurisdictional Note
This phrase belongs exclusively to early English common law practice. It has no independent life in American, Scottish, or other common law jurisdictions except as a historical reference. Researchers working in purely American legal records will not encounter it in operative documents.
---