Definition
A Latin term used in old conveyancing, meaning "severally." When the word separatim appeared in a deed or instrument containing multiple obligors or covenantors, it operated as a term of art signaling that each party's covenant or obligation was separate and individual rather than joint. A covenant made separatim bound each covenantor independently, so that each party could be sued alone for his own breach without the others being joined.
Common Confusion
Separatim should not be confused with severally as used in modern instruments. Contemporary boilerplate phrasing such as "jointly and severally" expresses the same concept in plain English and has displaced Latin-form drafting entirely. The historical force of separatim was precisely its contrast with joint obligation in instruments that might otherwise be ambiguous. In a modern instrument, the word separatim would be archaic and unnecessary; its appearance in historical instruments is a deliberate legal choice with defined consequences.
Why It Matters in Research
Separatim is a signal term in historical deed analysis. Its presence or absence in a pre-modern instrument determines whether an obligation was joint or several — a distinction that had significant procedural and substantive consequences. Under common law pleading, joint obligors had to be sued together; several obligors could be sued independently. Misreading an instrument that contains separatim as creating a joint obligation, or overlooking its presence, will produce an incorrect characterization of the parties' legal relationships.
Researchers working in early English land records, colonial American conveyancing, or equity proceedings involving multi-party covenants should treat separatim as a term requiring careful attention. Because the word belongs to the vocabulary of Latin-form instruments that fell out of general use after the plain-English conveyancing reforms of the nineteenth century, it will be encountered almost exclusively in pre-reform materials. It does not appear in standard modern instruments.
The citation to 5 Coke appears across all four source dictionaries, anchoring the authority to Mathewson's Case, reported in Coke's Reports. Researchers tracing the doctrinal basis for the term should begin there. The Rapalje & Lawrence entry contains apparent textual contamination — its entry for separatim runs together with material from a wholly separate entry concerning separation deeds and separation orders, suggesting a typographical or binding error in that edition. Researchers using Rapalje & Lawrence for this term should be aware that the substantive content on separatim is limited to the first sentence; the remaining text belongs to adjacent entries.
Historical Dictionary Support
All four source dictionaries agree on the core meaning: separatim is Latin for "severally," and its function in old conveyancing was to transform what might otherwise be a joint covenant into a several one. The definitions are nearly identical across Black's first and second editions and Burrill, each citing Coke's Reports (with minor variation in page reference — 23a versus 28a — likely a printing variation across editions of Coke). Burrill provides the most precise attribution, naming Mathewson's Case explicitly.
None of the historical dictionaries explain the legal mechanics of the joint/several distinction in any depth, treating separatim as a pure term of art whose operative effect was well understood by the intended audience. For a researcher needing the substantive doctrine — what severality meant for pleading, contribution, and release — the historical dictionaries direct outward to the primary source rather than supplying the rule themselves. That is appropriate given the term's function as a drafting signal rather than a freestanding doctrine.