Definition
In old English law, the scale or scales. Used in Latin legal phrases of medieval England to denote a system of graduated payment or measurement by a fixed standard. Most commonly encountered in the phrase *ad scalam* — meaning "according to the scale" — which described a method of computing or discharging monetary obligations by reference to a set schedule or graduated measure rather than by face value or arbitrary negotiation.
The term appears primarily in historical records concerning debt, rent, and monetary transactions in which payments were calibrated against a known standard or table of values.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A statically-typed multi-paradigm programming language designed to run on the JVM (Java Virtual Machine).
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): A machine formerly used for reducing dislocations of the humerus; also, a term for any of the three canals of the cochlea in the inner ear.
Neither the modern nor the historical common meaning bears any relationship to the legal term. Researchers encountering *scala* in digitized historical legal records should not allow these meanings to create confusion — the legal term is Latin, narrow in application, and belongs entirely to medieval English property and monetary law.
Common Confusion
*Scala* should not be confused with the English word "scale" as used loosely in modern legal drafting (e.g., fee schedules, sliding-scale damages). The Latin legal term is more specific: it refers to a defined mechanism by which payment or obligation was measured in early English law, and its appearance in sources is almost always a signal that the surrounding document involves a monetary obligation computed against a fixed table or graduated standard. Researchers should also distinguish *scala* from *scavage* (a toll on goods displayed for sale), despite Burrill's collocation of the two terms — the connection is one of proximity in his text, not equivalence in meaning.
Why It Matters in Research
*Scala* is a low-frequency term that appears primarily in Latin legal records of medieval and early modern England — plea rolls, account rolls, and instruments recording financial obligations. Its practical significance for Law Mind corpus researchers lies in three areas.
First, the phrase *ad scalam* is a technical marker for a particular payment method. When a researcher encounters it in a historical instrument, it signals that the obligation was not simply a fixed sum but was computed by reference to an external schedule — a distinction that could bear on questions of discharge, calculation of arrears, or the nature of the underlying transaction.
Second, because Bouvier's entry is essentially a cross-reference to Burrill rather than an independent treatment, researchers relying solely on Bouvier will find the term underdeveloped. Burrill provides the operative definition and the principal context.
Third, *scala* has essentially no presence in American legal sources. It is a term of English medieval law, relevant to research in English legal history, early colonial instruments that borrowed from English forms, or comparative legal history. Researchers working in American primary sources after the colonial period are unlikely to encounter it, and its appearance in such sources would itself be notable.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier and Burrill are in agreement on the core meaning — the Latin *scala* means scale or scales — and both locate the term in old English law. Burrill provides the primary substantive content, while Bouvier's entry is a bare cross-reference. Neither source develops the term beyond its appearance in *ad scalam* constructions and its association with a historical payment method.
Both sources leave the broader legal context of that payment method largely unexplored. Neither addresses, for example, what specific scales or tables were referenced, in what types of instruments the phrase most commonly appeared, or how the practice evolved or was displaced. Researchers needing more than the definitional minimum will need to look beyond these dictionaries to specialized scholarship on medieval English monetary and property law.
Burrill's placement of *scala* adjacent to *scavage* in his text appears to reflect alphabetical proximity rather than conceptual kinship. Researchers should treat that adjacency as a navigational artifact, not an implied relationship between the two terms.
Jurisdictional Note
*Scala* as a legal term is specific to old English law and has no recognized presence as a term of art in American, Scottish, or other common law jurisdictions. Its relevance is essentially historical and archival.