Definition
In old English law, *pru* (also rendered *pru* or *prou*) is a Law French term meaning profit, benefit, or advantage. It appears in legal formulae and pleadings of the medieval period, typically in the phrase *pur le pru de* — meaning "for the benefit of" or "for the profit of" a named person or entity. The term denotes an interest or gain accruing to a party, and its use signals that an act, grant, or conveyance was made in that party's favor or for their account.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A diminutive of the given name Prudence; an informal personal name with no legal content.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Not recorded as a common English word.
The gap here is total. The common usage of *pru* as a nickname for Prudence has no connection to the legal term. Researchers encountering *pru* or *prou* in a medieval or early modern English legal manuscript should not interpret it as a personal name abbreviation. Context — particularly the formulaic phrase *pur le pru de* — is the reliable signal that the legal term is in use.
Common Confusion
*Pru* is sometimes confused with *profit* in its modern commercial sense. The Law French term is broader and more neutral: it encompasses any advantage, benefit, or favorable interest — not merely financial gain in a transactional sense. It also appears in proximity to related Law French terms such as *emolument* and *avail*, which share overlapping meanings in historical sources. Researchers should read the surrounding formula rather than treating any single word as controlling.
Why It Matters in Research
*Pru* is a low-frequency term that appears almost exclusively in Law French formulae embedded in medieval English legal records, plea rolls, conveyancing instruments, and ecclesiastical documents. Its rarity in modern legal writing means that standard common-law dictionaries may omit it entirely or provide only a passing reference, as Burrill does.
Key navigational points:
— The phrase *pur le pru de* functions as a fixed formula and should be read as a unit. Researchers parsing medieval records should treat the full phrase as a term of art indicating beneficial interest, not parse *pru* in isolation.
— Spelling variants are common in Law French manuscripts. *Prou*, *prew*, and *prowe* appear in contemporaneous sources with the same meaning. Search strategies in manuscript databases and digitized plea rolls should account for these variants.
— The term belongs to a cluster of Law French profit-and-benefit vocabulary that intersects with early concepts of use, trust, and beneficial ownership. Researchers tracing the historical foundations of equity and the law of uses may encounter *pru* in foundational sources predating the Statute of Uses (1536).
— Burrill's entry situates *pru* in the context of provisors legislation and canon law reception, which reflects the source organization of his dictionary rather than an inherent connection. Researchers should not assume *pru* is a term of ecclesiastical law specifically; it appears across secular and ecclesiastical legal instruments alike.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the primary reference among standard historical legal dictionaries. His entry is brief and supplies the core gloss — "profit; benefit; advantage" — with the exemplary phrase *pur le pru de*. The entry's placement near material on provisors and canon law reception in England (citing Blackstone's *Commentaries*, Book I) appears to reflect editorial proximity in Burrill's arrangement rather than a substantive connection between the term and provisors doctrine.
Other major historical dictionaries — including Jacob's *Law Dictionary*, Tomlin's *Law Dictionary*, and Bouvier's — do not appear to carry independent entries for *pru* as a Law French term, though related vocabulary (*profit*, *prou*) may appear in discussions of beneficial interests and feudal tenure. This relative silence underscores that *pru* is a specialized relic of Law French pleading vocabulary rather than a term of art with ongoing doctrinal development.
No historical dictionary source surveyed provides extended analysis of *pru*. Burrill's gloss is adequate for identification purposes but should be supplemented by Law French glossaries — particularly those accompanying editions of Bracton, Britton, or the Year Books — for researchers requiring deeper contextual grounding.