Definition
A Latin phrase meaning "but it is not allowed." Sed non allocatur appears in early English law reports as a formulaic notation signaling that the court rejected or declined to accept the argument just presented by counsel. It functions as a brief, authoritative negative — the court's recorded disagreement rendered in a fixed Latin phrase rather than extended prose reasoning. It is the opposite of allocatur, which signals that the court agreed or approved.
The phrase appears typically after a summary of counsel's argument, often preceded by phrases such as "It was argued..." or "It was insisted...," followed by sed non allocatur as a terminal judicial response. Occasionally an explanatory clause follows, as in "sed non allocatur, because it has been otherwise adjudged."
Common Confusion
Sed non allocatur is frequently paired with, and should be distinguished from, its counterpart allocatur ("it is allowed"). Both are notations in old reports reflecting the court's disposition of a legal argument or application. Allocatur in its broader usage also appeared on writs and procedural documents as a formal certification of allowance by a court officer — a distinct usage that does not apply to sed non allocatur. Researchers encountering either phrase should determine from context whether the notation concerns a substantive argument, a motion, or a procedural allowance.
Why It Matters in Research
Sed non allocatur is primarily a navigational tool for researchers working in pre-modern English law reports, particularly those covering the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. Several practical points apply:
First, the phrase carries no discursive reasoning on its face. When a report ends an argument with sed non allocatur, the reader knows the court disagreed — but not necessarily why. The explanatory clause ("because it has been otherwise adjudged") sometimes follows and sometimes does not. Researchers should not assume a well-reasoned rejection simply because the phrase appears; it may be the entirety of the court's recorded response.
Second, context within the report matters. The phrase appears after counsel's argument has been summarized, not after a full judicial opinion. The report may reflect the reporter's reconstruction rather than verbatim court language, which affects how much weight the notation should bear as authority.
Third, sed non allocatur signals a moment of potential doctrinal conflict. When it appears, the court was actively declining a legal proposition — often because prior contrary precedent existed. This makes the phrase a useful flag: finding it in a report suggests the argument raised was live and contested, not settled.
Fourth, researchers using Law Mind's corpus of historical English reports should treat sed non allocatur as a procedural marker distinct from a holding. It does not mean the underlying legal question was definitively resolved, only that this argument, in this case, was rejected. The same question may succeed in a later report under a different framing.
Historical Dictionary Support
All three source dictionaries agree on the core translation and function: sed non allocatur means "but it is not allowed" and signals judicial disagreement with counsel's argument in the old reports. Black's (both editions) give identical, spare definitions. Burrill's Law Dictionary is the most instructive of the three, supplying illustrative examples drawn from Latch's Reports and what appears to be Comberbach's Reports, showing the phrase in its natural documentary habitat — appearing after counsel's argument with or without an explanatory clause.
Burrill's cross-reference to allocatur is the most useful editorial note in the historical dictionaries, framing sed non allocatur correctly as the negative pole of a paired notational system. Neither edition of Black's makes this connection explicit, which is an omission researchers should compensate for by consulting allocatur separately.
None of the source dictionaries address the evidentiary weight of the notation, the reliability of the underlying report, or the distinction between this phrase and a full judicial holding — gaps this entry fills.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Early English Law Reports; Allocatur; Latin Maxims and Legal Phrases in Common Law Practice.