Definition
To owe a balance of account. In old exchequer practice, *reliquare* denotes the condition of an accountant who, upon the audit of their account before the exchequer, is found to owe a remaining sum — that is, to have a residual debt or deficit after all credits have been applied. The term derives from *reliqua* (remaining balance, remainder, or arrears) and functions as a verb describing the act or state of being in arrears on an account rendered to the crown or its officers.
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Why It Matters in Research
This is an exchequer term of art drawn from medieval Latin administrative practice. Researchers encountering it will almost certainly do so in the context of English exchequer records, pipe rolls, or treatises on exchequer procedure — not in common-law pleading or equity materials.
The term belongs to the specialized vocabulary of the *scaccarium* (the exchequer), and its natural habitat is Latin administrative records rather than reported case law. Burrill's citation to Skene's *De Verborum Significatione* is telling: Skene was writing about Scottish legal terminology, which reflects the broader reach of exchequer practice across the British Isles. Researchers working with Scottish exchequer records as well as English ones may encounter this term.
A key research trap: *reliquare* will rarely appear in English-language translations of records, where it is more likely to be rendered as "to be in arrears," "to owe a balance," or simply "to remain indebted." If working directly with Latin exchequer records — pipe rolls, memoranda rolls, receipt rolls — recognizing *reliquare* and its cognates is essential for accurate reading.
The term is nearly extinct in modern legal usage. No modern statutory or common-law doctrine uses it as operative language. It is valuable solely as a reading aid for historical documents.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary is the sole historical source providing a formal entry. The definition is terse: *reliquare* means to owe a balance of account in old exchequer practice, with the citation pointing to Skene's *De Verborum Significatione*, a sixteenth-century Scottish glossary of legal terms. No other major historical dictionaries — Jacob's, Tomlin's, Black's early editions — appear to carry a dedicated entry for this term, which reflects its narrow functional range.
The Skene citation is the primary authority Burrill relies upon, and researchers should be aware that Skene's glossary was composed in the context of Scots law, though the exchequer terminology he recorded was shared across the Anglo-Norman administrative tradition. This gives *reliquare* a modest cross-jurisdictional footprint — English and Scottish exchequer practice — but it does not extend meaningfully into other legal systems.
What the historical dictionaries collectively miss is any worked example from actual exchequer records, which would help researchers recognize the term in context. The pipe roll literature and scholarship on medieval English financial administration (such as work on the *Dialogus de Scaccario*) provides richer illustration of the concept, even where the specific verb *reliquare* may not always appear.
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Jurisdictional Note
Primarily a term of English and Scottish exchequer practice under the Anglo-Norman administrative tradition. Not encountered in civilian or continental legal sources in this specific sense. Modern exchequer courts and their successors no longer employ this vocabulary.
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