Definition
A Latin infinitive meaning "to render," "to pay," "to give," or "to yield." In old English legal usage, *reddere* appears as a functional verb in formulaic Latin phrases within charters, writs, statutes, and pleadings — typically expressing an obligation to pay a debt, deliver a thing, or return something owed. It is not a standalone legal doctrine but a term of legal Latin whose significance lies in the instruments and formulas where it appears.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in medieval and early modern English legal records — Magna Carta, fee farm grants, indentures, and common law pleadings — will encounter *reddere* embedded in Latin clauses rather than standing alone. Its importance is positional: the verb anchors obligation clauses, and recognizing it quickly allows the researcher to identify what is being owed, to whom, and under what condition.
The phrase *ad debitum reddendum* (to pay the debt) is a stock formula appearing in debt instruments and is traceable directly to Magna Carta, Chapter 8 of 9 Henry III. The conditional clause — *non habens unde reddat, aut reddere nolit, cum possit* — introduces a key distinction in medieval debt law between inability to pay and refusal to pay. This distinction carried procedural consequences: a debtor who could not pay was treated differently from one who would not, a nuance that researchers following medieval debt enforcement will need to track carefully.
*Reddere* is the verbal root from which two closely related terms in legal Latin derive: *reddendum* (the gerundive, meaning "that which is to be rendered") and *redditus* (the noun, meaning "rent" or "revenue"). These terms cross-reference in ways that matter for property research. A grant in fee farm or a leasehold instrument may use all three forms across different clauses — *reddere* in the obligation, *reddendum* in the clause reserving rent, and *redditus* when referring to the income stream itself. Confusing these forms leads to misreading what is a personal obligation versus a reserved property interest.
Researchers using historical legal dictionaries will find *reddere* treated briefly in most sources, serving primarily as a pointer to *reddendum* and *redditus* where the substantive legal content resides. Burrill is typical: the entry is short and illustrative rather than analytical, relying on the Magna Carta text to show usage.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary treats *reddere* as a Latin term of art in old English law, defining it as "to render; to pay; to give or yield." Burrill illustrates usage with two phrases drawn from Magna Carta (9 Hen. III, c. 8): the formula *ad debitum reddendum* and the conditional debt clause distinguishing inability from refusal to pay. The entry is brief by design, functioning as a gateway to the related terms *Reddendum* and *Redditus*, which carry the heavier doctrinal load in Burrill's treatment.
No significant divergence among historical dictionaries requires flagging here: *reddere* is a well-settled Latin verb whose legal uses were consistent across medieval and early modern sources. The risk for researchers is not definitional dispute but rather failure to recognize the word's morphological variants — *reddat*, *reddendum*, *redditus* — as forms of the same root, which a general Latin dictionary will clarify where a law dictionary may not.