Definition
A Latin adjective meaning "secure," "safe," or "certain." In legal contexts, *securus* appears primarily in Latin maxims, writs, and procedural formulas rather than as a standalone operative term. Its function is adjectival: it qualifies a condition, person, or obligation as rendered safe or assured — typically by the giving of security, surety, or bail. The term is most commonly encountered in the phrase *si te fecerit securum* ("if he shall have made you secure"), a clause in early common law writs directing a sheriff to act upon the plaintiff's giving of sufficient surety.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Not a standard English word; the anglicized form "secure" means free from danger, firmly fixed, or confident.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "Secure" — free from danger or risk; certain; overconfident or careless (archaic sense).
The English word "secure" carries a modern connotation of safety from threat or technical protection (as in cybersecurity). The Latin legal term *securus* has a narrower, procedural meaning: a party or officer has been made *securus* when a formal legal guarantee — surety, pledge, or bail — has been furnished. The word describes a satisfied legal condition, not merely a factual state of safety.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering *securus* in historical legal materials will almost never find it standing alone. Its significance is entirely contextual: it marks the satisfaction of a security condition within a writ or formula. The critical practical link is to *si te fecerit securum*, which was the operative clause in original writs (particularly in personal actions) instructing the sheriff to summon the defendant only after the plaintiff had given security for prosecuting the suit. Understanding *securus* as a term of completed obligation — not mere aspiration — is essential to reading these writs correctly.
Trap for researchers: In medieval and early modern legal texts, *securus* may appear in abbreviated or contracted Latin, and its adjectival form shifts by case and gender (*securi*, *securum*, *secura*). A researcher scanning for the term must account for these inflections. Relying on a single form in a text search will produce incomplete results.
The term has no independent doctrinal weight in modern Anglo-American law. It survives only as a component of historical Latin formulas. Researchers working in equity records, plea rolls, or early common law procedure will encounter it most frequently; those working in post-nineteenth-century materials are unlikely to encounter it at all outside of antiquarian citation.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides a minimal but accurate entry: *securus* means "secure; safe or sure," with a cross-reference to *si te fecerit securum* as the primary context for the term's legal use. This is consistent with the term's actual function — it is a building block of a larger formula rather than a term with independent doctrinal content.
Historical dictionaries universally treat *securus* as a gateway term, directing researchers to the writ clause rather than developing the adjective itself. This is appropriate. No significant divergence appears among historical sources on the core meaning, though none develops the procedural mechanics of what "making secure" required in practice — that analysis belongs to the writ and to the law of suretyship more broadly.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See: SI TE FECERIT SECURUM; SURETYSHIP; ORIGINAL WRITS