Definition
A Latin term from old English law meaning "to strike." Used in two principal legal contexts: (1) as descriptive language in criminal indictments, where "percussit" (he struck) was a required word of art to charge a physical assault or battery; and (2) in the phrase "percutere duellum," meaning to strike the duel — that is, to engage or join in trial by combat.
Common Confusion
PERCUTERE and PERCUSSIT are different grammatical forms of the same root and function differently in legal texts. "Percutere" is the infinitive and appears in procedural and descriptive legal writing; "percussit" is the past tense third-person singular and is the operative word that appeared in indictments. Researchers encountering one should not assume the other's function. Similarly, "percutere duellum" is a technical phrase of art — it does not mean striking a blow in combat generally, but specifically means commencing or joining the formal judicial combat, a distinct legal act with procedural significance.
Why It Matters in Research
This term is a trap for researchers working with early English criminal records. "Percussit" was not merely convenient phrasing — it was a required word of art in old indictments charging a striking offense. Its omission could be grounds for challenging an indictment's sufficiency. When reading historical plea rolls, assize records, or indictment files from the medieval and early modern period, the presence or absence of "percussit" carries substantive legal meaning, not merely stylistic variation. Researchers should not treat it as interchangeable with synonyms.
The phrase "percutere duellum" connects to the procedural law of trial by combat, which was formally available in English law — at least in civil cases — until its abolition by statute in 1819. Legal texts referencing this phrase are engaged with a specific stage of the wager of battle: the moment of joining combat, which had its own formalities distinct from the challenge, the acceptance, and the oaths. Bracton and Fleta, both cited in Burrill, treat this as a moment with legal consequences, not merely a physical act.
Researchers using the Law Mind corpus should note that this term surfaces primarily in Latin legal treatises and in commentary on indictment form. It will not appear in common English legal writing after Latin was substantially displaced in court records (mid-18th century in most English courts). After that displacement, the substantive concepts survive but the term does not.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary is the sole source dictionary for this entry and treats the term concisely, citing two authoritative medieval sources: Fleta (book 2, chapter 1, section 4) for the base meaning "to strike," and Bracton (folio 139) for the combat phrase. Both are foundational Latin treatises of English common law and remain primary sources for understanding the law of the period they describe. Burrill also cites Coke's Reports (5 Co. 122a, Long's Case) and 11 Mod. 229 for the indictment requirement, grounding the term's procedural importance in identifiable case authority.
Historical dictionaries generally handle "percutere" as a Latin gloss rather than a developed legal concept. The significance of "percussit" as a word of art in indictments is underappreciated in purely definitional treatments. Researchers relying only on dictionary entries may miss that the term's importance lies not in its meaning — "to strike" is plain enough — but in its status as required pleading language, the absence of which had legal consequences for the validity of a criminal charge.
Jurisdictional Note
This term is specific to the English common law tradition and its direct legal descendants. It will not appear in civil law systems or in American legal practice except as a historical reference. American colonial and early republic criminal procedure inherited elements of English indictment form but adapted and eventually codified them, making Latin words of art largely obsolete by the 19th century.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia — Trial by Combat; Indictments (Historical Forms)