Definition
A Latin term from the civil law tradition carrying three distinct but related meanings, all centering on authoritative expression:
(1) Sense or import — the substantive meaning of a legal text or statement, as distinguished from its bare words. In this usage, sententia is the operative legal meaning that governs, as opposed to the literal form of expression (verba).
(2) The deliberate expression of one's will or intention — particularly in testamentary and contractual contexts, where courts looked to the sententia of a testator or party to determine what legal effect their words should have.
(3) The sentence, judgment, or decision of a judge or court — the formal pronouncement of a judicial outcome. In Roman and civil law procedure, the sententia was the definitive ruling that concluded a proceeding before the court.
The term appears most frequently in common law sources through its associated maxims, which were imported into Anglo-American legal writing from Roman law authorities.
Common Confusion
Sententia in its first meaning (sense or import) is frequently confused with its third meaning (judicial sentence or judgment) by researchers encountering the term in context. A sentence reading "the court's sententia" invokes meaning (3); a sentence reading "the sententia of the testator's words" invokes meaning (1). The surrounding civil law context almost always signals which meaning applies, but researchers working with translated or summarized materials should verify before assuming judicial finality is at issue. Sententia in meaning (3) should also not be conflated with the modern English "sentence" in criminal law — the Roman civil law sententia was closer to what modern common lawyers would call a judgment or final order.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
The term appears in several maxims that circulated widely in common law treatises and courts:
Sententia a non judice lata nemini debet nocere — A sentence (judgment) pronounced by one who is not a judge should harm no one. This maxim addressed the foundational question of judicial authority: a ruling issued without proper jurisdiction or office binds no party.
Sententia contra matrimonium nunquam transit in rem judicatam — A sentence against marriage never passes into a thing adjudged (res judicata). This civil law rule, cited at 7 Coke 43, reflected the ecclesiastical and civil law treatment of matrimonial status as not fully capable of conclusive adjudication in the ordinary sense.
Sententia facit jus, et legis interpretatio legis vim obtinet — A judgment creates law, and an interpretation of the law has the force of law. This maxim, cited in Burrill, expressed the doctrinal weight of judicial decisions and authoritative legal interpretation.
Why It Matters in Research
Sententia is a term of Roman and civil law origin that reached common law materials almost exclusively through quotation of maxims and through treatises drawing on civil law authority. Researchers encountering it in English legal texts should situate it within that channel: the maxims attached to sententia were invoked in ecclesiastical courts, admiralty proceedings, and early equity courts — jurisdictions with heavier civil law influence than common law courts of record.
The three-meaning structure creates a navigational trap. A researcher tracing the doctrine that judgments bind only parties — related to meaning (3) and the maxim on non-judges — is working in different territory than one tracing the interpretive principle that the meaning (sententia) of a document controls over its words. Both topics appear under the same headword in the historical dictionaries, and the maxims are sometimes quoted without indicating which sense of the term they implicate.
The appearance of sententia in Burrill's citation to Digest 50.17 (a title collecting general maxims) signals that many uses of this term in common law authorities were drawing on Justinianic compilations at second or third hand, often through intermediaries like Coke or civil law treatise writers. The Law Mind corpus will surface sententia most reliably in ecclesiastical law materials, admiralty decisions, civil law treatises, and the maxim collections embedded in early common law dictionaries. It is rare in purely common law pleading and procedure sources.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary does not carry a substantive entry for sententia in the available text — the source material for Bouvier breaks off into an entry for SEPARALITER, suggesting the sententia entry may be absent or misattributed in the corpus. Researchers relying on Bouvier for this term should treat that source as effectively silent and weight the other four dictionaries accordingly.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's (1st and 2nd editions) and Rapalje & Lawrence present nearly identical three-part definitions, reflecting a common source tradition. All three organize the term around the same tripartite structure (sense/import; expression of will; judicial sentence) and attach the same two maxims. This consistency across independent dictionaries suggests these definitions were consolidated from civil law treatise writers rather than developed from primary source analysis — the maxims are doing the definitional work.
Burrill's Law Dictionary adds the most nuance, citing Digest 50.17 directly and cross-referencing Taylor's Civil Law, which adds scholarly depth absent from the Black's line. Burrill also introduces the fourth maxim (Sententia facit jus) not found in the other entries, making it the most expansive treatment in the historical record.
None of the historical dictionaries engage meaningfully with how sententia in meaning (1) — the interpretive sense — operated as a practical tool in contract and testament construction. That analytical gap is significant: researchers tracing the civil law origins of the "intent of the parties" doctrine in Anglo-American contract interpretation will find sententia as a signpost but will need to follow it into the civil law literature rather than rely on these dictionary entries for substantive guidance.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Judgment and Judicial Authority in Civil Law Tradition; Res Judicata; Maxims of Law.