Definition
An archaic Law French term meaning "to recognize." Used in early English legal procedure to denote the act of a jury or sworn body formally acknowledging or attesting to a fact upon oath. The phrase *a reconustre sur lour serment* — "to recognize upon their oath" — captures its procedural context: a sworn recognition by jurors of a matter brought before them.
Why It Matters in Research
This term belongs to the Law French stratum of medieval English legal writing and will appear almost exclusively in early treatise literature and Year Book-era sources. Researchers encountering it in manuscript or printed sources from the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries should understand it as a verb form tied to the procedural act of recognition — not merely acknowledgment in a general sense, but the formal sworn affirmation by a jury or inquest. It is closely tied to the noun *recognizance* and the broader procedural family of *recognitions* (early jury-like inquests). Researchers using Britton or similar early compilations should be alert to the interchangeability of Law French verbal forms: *reconustre*, *reconoistre*, and cognate spellings may appear across sources reflecting different scribal traditions. Do not assume a consistent orthography. The term will not appear in post-medieval legal sources under this form; by the time of Blackstone and later common law digests, the concept had fully migrated into the English *recognizance* and *recognition* terminology.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the only entry in the Law Mind corpus for this term, defining it concisely as the Law French infinitive "to recognize" and citing Britton, chapter 45, for the illustrative phrase *a reconustre sur lour serment*. Burrill's treatment is spare but accurate: it correctly situates the term as a verbal form rather than a noun, and the citation to Britton grounds it in one of the foundational early English legal compilations. No further elaboration is offered in Burrill, which reflects the term's status as a technical fossil — useful to gloss for readers of early sources but not requiring doctrinal development. Researchers should note that historical dictionaries generally handle Law French entries unevenly; terms of this vintage are often listed only in their noun or anglicized forms, making Burrill's inclusion of the verbal infinitive a useful navigational marker.