Definition
A Law French term meaning "know" or "know ye," used as the opening word of formal deeds and charters. Sachent functions as the verb of address in the notificatory clause — the portion of a deed that announces the instrument to all present and future parties. The phrase most commonly appears in the fuller form sachent à toutz ceux que icy sount, et à toutz ceux que avener sount ("know all those who are here, and all those who are to come"), introducing a grant, conveyance, or other solemn act. It is the Law French equivalent of the Latin sciant or noverint, serving the same structural role in the opening protocol of a charter.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): No entry. The term is not part of modern English.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): No entry. The term did not pass into general English usage.
Sachent is pure Law French legal vocabulary with no common English counterpart. Its meaning is recoverable only through the documentary tradition of medieval and early modern Anglo-Norman conveyancing.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working with medieval English deeds, Anglo-Norman charters, or early common law conveyancing instruments will encounter sachent as a formulaic opener signaling that what follows is a notificatory clause. Recognition of the term is necessary to correctly parse the structure of the instrument — the sachent clause precedes the identification of the grantor and the substance of the grant.
The key research trap is treating sachent as substantive language rather than formal protocol. The word carries no legal operative weight of its own; it is part of the invocatio or publicatio — the address to the world — that was standard drafting form before the notificatory clause gave way to more modern formulas. Failure to recognize it can cause a researcher to misplace where the operative portions of a deed begin.
Because sachent appears primarily in documents of the Anglo-Norman period (roughly 11th through 15th centuries), it is largely absent from post-medieval English legal instruments. Researchers in early colonial records or later English conveyancing will encounter the Latin equivalents (sciant præsentes et futuri, noverint universi) more frequently than sachent itself. The connection between sachent and those Latin forms is direct and documented; Burrill explicitly cross-references sciant præsentes et futuri as the parallel construction.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary is the sole source in the Law Mind corpus with an entry for sachent, and it provides the essential information: the Law French derivation from sacher (to know), the translation, the functional context in deed drafting, and a period example drawn from Britton. Burrill's cross-reference to sciant præsentes et futuri confirms that sachent is understood as the vernacular French parallel to the Latin notificatory formula, not an independent legal concept.
No other major historical legal dictionaries — not Bouvier, not Black's early editions — appear to carry a dedicated entry for sachent. This is consistent with the term's narrow functional role: it is a diplomatic formula of historical significance rather than a legal doctrine requiring extended treatment. Researchers should not expect doctrinal elaboration from historical sources beyond what Burrill supplies.
The Britton citation (c. 39) in Burrill refers to Britton, the late 13th-century Anglo-Norman legal treatise written in Law French, which remains a primary source for Anglo-Norman conveyancing forms and substantive law of the period.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Deeds and Conveyancing (Historical Forms); Anglo-Norman Legal Language.