Definition
In law, resolutive describes something having the quality or effect of resolving, extinguishing, or terminating a right. The term appears most distinctively in Scots conveyancing, where it characterizes conditions or clauses that, upon the occurrence of a specified event, operate to defeat or discharge a right that had previously vested. A resolutive condition does not prevent a right from arising — it terminates a right already granted if a triggering event comes to pass. This distinguishes it from a suspensive condition, which holds a right in suspension until a condition is fulfilled.
The underlying principle is captured in the Latin maxim: Resoluto jure concedentis resolvitur jus concessum — the right of the grantor being extinguished, the right granted is extinguished. This principle functions independently of the resolutive label but gives it doctrinal grounding: when the foundation of a grant collapses, what was built on it collapses too.
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Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Serving to dissolve or relax.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Serving to dissolve or relax. [Rare.]
Both dictionaries flag the common English usage as rare even in their own eras. The legal meaning is narrower and more technical than the ordinary sense. In everyday English, "resolutive" suggests a general capacity to dissolve or loosen something. In law — particularly Scots law — it is a term of art describing the specific legal mechanism by which a previously granted right is extinguished upon a condition's occurrence. The physical metaphor of dissolving maps onto the legal concept, but the precision of the legal application is not captured by the common definition.
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Common Confusion
RESOLUTIVE vs. RESOLUTORY: Black's 2nd edition uses "resolutory condition" as the operative compound noun, treating it interchangeably with the resolutive framework. Some historical sources prefer "resolutory" as the adjective modifying "condition"; others use "resolutive" in the same role. Researchers should search both forms when working in historical Scots or civil law materials. Neither term is in common modern American legal usage.
RESOLUTIVE CONDITION vs. SUSPENSIVE CONDITION: These are paired opposites in civil and Scots law. A suspensive condition delays the vesting of a right until the condition is met. A resolutive condition allows the right to vest immediately but subjects it to defeasance if the specified event occurs. Confusing the two inverts the legal analysis.
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Why It Matters in Research
This is a term of limited currency in modern American common law but meaningful depth in two specific research contexts: Scots law materials and civilian (Roman law-derived) legal systems. Researchers working in historical Scots conveyancing will encounter it regularly, particularly in texts drawing on Bell's principles and Mackeldey's Roman Law. It rarely appears in modern American or English case law without explicit reference to one of those traditions.
The practical trap: searching only for "resolutive" in historical sources may miss parallel treatments under "resolutory," and vice versa. Black's 2nd edition cross-references "RESOLUTORY CONDITION" under the "CONDITION" entry, meaning the substantive doctrine may be indexed under a different headword entirely.
The maxim Resoluto jure concedentis resolvitur jus concessum appears in Broom's Legal Maxims and Mackeldey's Roman Law — both cited in Black's — and functions as a freestanding principle beyond just the resolutive label. Researchers tracing derivative title problems or chain-of-title defects in civilian or mixed jurisdictions (Louisiana, Quebec, South Africa) may find this maxim more useful as a search anchor than the term "resolutive" itself.
For American researchers, the closest functional analog in common law conveyancing is the condition subsequent, which similarly allows a granted right to be defeated upon a triggering event. The vocabulary differs; the structural logic is comparable.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Black's 1st and 2nd editions are in close agreement — nearly identical text — defining resolutive as a Scots conveyancing term meaning having the quality or effect of resolving or extinguishing a right. Both editions cite Bell (likely George Joseph Bell's Principles of the Law of Scotland) as the primary authority and the Resoluto jure maxim as doctrinal support, with Black's 2nd adding explicit citations to Mackeldey's Roman Law (§179) and Broom's Legal Maxims (467).
Neither edition develops the term beyond this brief treatment, and neither attempts to integrate it into American common law doctrine. The entries function more as glossary notes for readers encountering Scots or civilian materials than as working American legal definitions. This is appropriate: the term is genuinely foreign to the common law tradition as a labeled concept, even if the underlying mechanism is familiar.
What the historical dictionaries do not address: any evolution in how Scots law itself has treated the concept in the intervening century, the term's application in mixed legal systems, or any overlap with modern contract law's treatment of defeasance conditions.
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Jurisdictional Note
Resolutive as a legal term of art is native to Scots law and civilian legal systems derived from Roman law. It appears in Louisiana and other mixed jurisdictions as part of inherited civilian vocabulary. In purely common law jurisdictions, the concept is absorbed into the doctrines of condition subsequent and defeasance without the "resolutive" label.
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