Definition
A Latin adverb from medieval legal Latin, meaning "by sentence" or "by judicial sentence." Used in old English law to describe the manner in which a matter was concluded — that is, terminated or resolved through the formal pronouncement of a court or ecclesiastical tribunal, as distinguished from resolution by other means such as agreement, default, or procedural dismissal. The term appears most characteristically in the phrase *sententialiter terminatum*, meaning "terminated by sentence."
Why It Matters in Research
This is a narrow term of art from medieval English ecclesiastical and common law procedure. Researchers are unlikely to encounter it outside of pre-modern English legal documents, particularly those touching on ecclesiastical court practice or the contested boundary between ecclesiastical and royal jurisdiction.
The primary research value of the term lies in its connection to a specific procedural distinction: whether a matter was brought to a definitive close by formal adjudication (sententialiter) as opposed to some other form of termination. This distinction carried procedural and jurisdictional weight in medieval practice, where the finality and character of a proceeding could affect what remedy lay in a subsequent forum.
The sole significant textual anchor for this term in the Law Mind corpus is the *Articuli Cleri* (c. 1316), Chapter 6, which addressed grievances of the English clergy and the jurisdictional relationship between ecclesiastical and royal courts. Researchers working with documents in or adjacent to that statute — including commentaries, year book entries, or pleading records from that period — are the most likely audience for this term. Anyone transcribing or analyzing medieval Latin legal texts should treat *sententialiter* as a term of procedural finality, not a substantive classification.
Because the term belongs almost entirely to medieval Latin legal usage, it does not appear in later English common law dictionaries (Bouvier, Black's) and is largely absent from American legal sources. Researchers consulting 19th-century American or English dictionaries will not find it. Burrill is the primary bridge source in English-language legal lexicography.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the only entry among the Law Mind shelf sources. Burrill defines the term concisely as "by sentence," identifies it as old English law, and anchors it to the *Articuli Cleri*, c. 6, in the phrase *sententialiter terminatum*. The entry is sparse but accurate in its limited scope — Burrill makes no attempt to generalize the term beyond this specific medieval usage, which is appropriate given the term's narrow range.
No other shelf source covers this term. Its absence from Bouvier, Black's, and similar works reflects the term's obsolescence by the time those dictionaries were compiled, as Latin pleading forms and ecclesiastical court terminology had largely fallen out of active practice in American and reformed English legal contexts.
The *Articuli Cleri* itself is a well-documented royal statute issued under Edward II, addressing longstanding clerical complaints about royal interference with ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Chapter 6 specifically concerns cases that had been determined by ecclesiastical sentence — reinforcing that *sententialiter* in this context signals a formal, final adjudication by an ecclesiastical tribunal, the finality of which the clergy sought to have recognized and respected by royal courts.
Jurisdictional Note
This term belongs exclusively to medieval English legal practice, primarily in the context of ecclesiastical court procedure and its intersection with royal jurisdiction. It has no recognized usage in American law and no modern application in any common law jurisdiction.