Definition
Quia datum is a Latin phrase meaning "because it was given." In legal usage, it appears primarily as a term of art in the drafting of deeds and other instruments of conveyance, used to introduce the statement of consideration — that is, to recite the reason or basis upon which property or a right was transferred. The phrase signals that what follows is the donor's or grantor's acknowledgment that the grant is made in recognition of something received or done.
The term also appears in the titles and recitals of certain historical writs and statutes, where it functions as a shorthand identification of the instrument's operative premise: that a prior gift or grant has been made, and the present legal action or rule flows from that foundational fact.
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Common Confusion
Quia datum should not be confused with Quia Emptores, the English statute of 1290 (18 Edw. I) that prohibited subinfeudation and transformed the structure of feudal land tenure. Both phrases begin with quia ("because") and arise in medieval land law contexts, and both appear in historical deeds research, but they serve entirely different functions. Quia Emptores is a statute with lasting doctrinal effect on fee simple ownership; quia datum is a recital phrase describing the basis of a particular conveyance. Researchers working in feudal tenure materials should take care not to conflate them.
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Why It Matters in Research
Quia datum appears most frequently in manuscript deeds, cartularies, and early printed conveyancing forms from the medieval and early modern English periods. Researchers working in the Law Mind corpus on feudal land tenure, charitable grants, or ecclesiastical conveyances will encounter it in recital clauses, where it introduces the consideration or motivating cause of a transfer — often a pious gift, a service rendered, or an act of loyalty.
The phrase carries indexing traps for the unwary. Because quia datum is a recital phrase rather than a term of art with independent doctrinal content, it rarely appears as a headword in later legal dictionaries. A researcher looking for it by name may find nothing; a researcher reading original instruments will find it embedded in formulaic Latin recitals. The practical consequence is that the meaning must be reconstructed from context and Latin grammar rather than from a discrete legal definition.
In historical sources, the phrase also appears in descriptions of the effect of prior gifts when courts were asked to determine whether a subsequent conveyance was valid — particularly in cases involving conditions on charitable grants or the question of whether a gift had been perfected. In those contexts, quia datum introduces the factual premise the court accepts as established before turning to the legal question.
Because Black's 2nd edition does not carry a standalone entry for quia datum as a defined term — the source material provided reflects surrounding maxim entries — researchers should treat this phrase as belonging to the working vocabulary of conveyancing Latin rather than to the doctrinal vocabulary of common law rules. It is a tool of drafting and recital, not a rule of decision.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) does not provide a standalone definition for quia datum. The source material supplied reflects entries for neighboring Latin maxims — including the rules regarding a party who has once relinquished an action (associated with retraxit and nolle prosequi), the presumption of continued criminality, and the principle that one who receives a benefit must bear the corresponding burden. These maxims share with quia datum the same Latin recital register and appear in the same sections of historical dictionaries organized by Latin phrase.
The absence of a dedicated entry in Black's is itself informative. It confirms that quia datum functioned as common conveyancing vocabulary — sufficiently understood by practitioners reading deeds that no formal definition was considered necessary — rather than as a contested legal concept requiring authoritative treatment. Earlier English law dictionaries and Latin glossaries of legal terms (such as Cowel's Interpreter and Blount's Nomo-Lexikon) are likely to offer more direct treatment than American common law dictionaries, and researchers should consult those sources for fuller historical context.
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Jurisdictional Note
Quia datum as a recital phrase is a product of English common law conveyancing practice and has no meaningful independent life in American statutory or case law. Its relevance in American legal research is almost entirely historical — confined to colonial-era deeds, land grants tracing title to English or proprietary origins, and ecclesiastical or charitable instruments drafted in the Latin tradition.
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