Definition
A query, question, or doubt. When appearing in legal writing — particularly in case syllabi, headnotes, or judicial opinions — *quaere* signals that what follows is presented as an open question rather than a settled proposition. It marks a point the author considers uncertain, unresolved, or deserving further inquiry. The word does not assert a rule; it invites examination of one.
Note on spelling: The standard Latin form is *quaere* (sometimes rendered *quære*). The variant *quzre* is an artifact of typographic or transcription corruption and should be treated as equivalent when encountered in historical sources.
Common Confusion
*Quaere* is sometimes misread as a holding or dictum when it is neither. A statement introduced by *quaere* represents the writer's doubt or an unresolved point — not an authoritative statement of law. Researchers who skim headnotes or syllabi may treat a *quaere* as if it announces a rule, when in fact it flags the opposite: that no settled rule has been identified. Similarly, *quaere* should not be confused with *semble* (it seems), which indicates a tentative proposition the author leans toward accepting, or with *cf.* (compare), which directs attention to a related but distinct authority.
Why It Matters in Research
*Quaere* is a navigational signal, not a substantive legal concept, and understanding it correctly determines whether a researcher draws a reliable rule from a source or chases a phantom.
In older English and American reporters — particularly those from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries — *quaere* appears frequently in syllabi and headnotes to bracket unresolved points of law. Reporters of that era were editors as much as transcribers; when a reporter inserted *quaere*, he was exercising editorial judgment that a question remained open. Researchers mining the Law Mind corpus for historical doctrine must treat these signals carefully: a case that appears to support a proposition may, on closer reading, only raise the question.
The word also appears in judicial opinions themselves, occasionally placed mid-sentence by a judge to signal personal doubt about a rule being applied. This usage is less common in modern American opinions but persists in some state courts and more frequently in English decisions carried forward into American sources.
Practical traps: (1) Headnote compilers in later editions sometimes dropped the *quaere* while retaining the proposition it qualified, converting doubt into apparent authority. When working with edited or abridged reporters, return to the original to check whether a *quaere* was present. (2) The abbreviated form *qu.* appears in some reporters and treatises; recognize it as equivalent. (3) Because *quaere* marks open questions, a cluster of *quaere* citations on a point can itself be evidence of doctrinal instability — useful intelligence for tracing how a rule eventually settled.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) defines *quaere* as "a query; question; doubt," and accurately describes its function in case syllabi as propounding a question or marking a statement as open to question. Black's includes the maxim *Quare de dubiis, quia per rationes pervenitur ad legitimam rationem* — "Inquire into doubtful points, because by reasoning we arrive at legal reason" — sourced to Littleton § 377. This maxim usefully captures the constructive function of *quaere*: doubt is not a dead end but a prompt for reasoned inquiry.
Black's treatment is adequate for identifying the term on the page but does not address the editorial practices of historical reporters that give *quaere* its practical significance for researchers. Earlier editions of Black's and Bouvier's Law Dictionary similarly define the term briefly without elaborating on how its presence or absence in a printed report should affect the weight a researcher assigns to surrounding text.