Definition
A sequestre (also rendered séquestre in French legal usage) is a deposit or entrustment of disputed property with a neutral third party — a stakeholder or middleman — pending the resolution of a contest or the occurrence of a determining event. The concept originates in Roman law, where the sequestre was a distinct form of deposit (depositum) characterized by its contingent nature: the depositary held the property not for the depositor's own account but in suspension, to be delivered to whichever party ultimately prevailed.
In Roman law usage, sequestre refers specifically to the arrangement itself, though the term was used interchangeably to describe both the deposit transaction and the person receiving it (the sequestrator). Bouvier treats sequestre and séquestre as cognates: the former being the Latin form, the latter the French adaptation of the same concept.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): An obsolete form of "sequester."
Historical common usage: The English verb "sequester" and its noun forms carried senses of withdrawal, separation, or setting apart — including both voluntary retirement from the world and the forcible setting aside of property.
The gap between common and legal usage matters here. In ordinary English, "sequester" implies removal or isolation, often with a coercive or involuntary flavor. The Roman law sequestre, by contrast, is a consensual arrangement — a deliberate deposit by agreement — and the neutral holder has no authority over the property beyond safekeeping. The common English understanding of sequestration (government seizure, court-ordered freeze) does not map cleanly onto the classical sequestre.
Common Confusion
Sequestre is frequently conflated with sequestration and sequester, but these are not identical:
— SEQUESTRE is the Roman law deposit arrangement itself — a consensual transfer to a neutral party pending an event.
— SEQUESTRATION is the broader modern doctrine, which includes both voluntary deposits and court-ordered compulsory seizures of property; in equity and in modern civil procedure, sequestration often operates without consent.
— SEQUESTRATOR is the person who holds property under either arrangement — the human agent, not the transaction.
— DEPOSIT (depositum) is the parent category in Roman law of which sequestre is a species; what distinguishes the sequestre from an ordinary deposit is that the depositary may not return the thing to the depositor alone — delivery is contingent on the outcome of the dispute.
Why It Matters in Research
Sequestre is primarily a historical and comparative law term. Researchers will encounter it most often in three contexts:
First, in civil law and Roman law sources. Bouvier traces the term directly to the Digest (Dig. 16, 3, 17, 1), where the sequestre appears as a subspecies of deposit. Any research into the Roman law of obligations, particularly the law of deposit and bailment, should treat sequestre as a technical term of art requiring care — it does not mean mere custody or sequestration in the modern sense.
Second, in French and Louisiana law sources. Séquestre is an active term in French civil law and in Louisiana's civilian tradition, where it retains a more precise and functional meaning than the attenuated English "sequestration." Researchers working in Louisiana courts, French legal texts, or comparative civil law materials should flag séquestre as potentially meaning this classical consensual deposit arrangement rather than a coercive court remedy.
Third, in historical English equity sources. Early English chancery practice borrowed concepts analogous to the sequestre when appointing receivers or stakeholders. Researchers tracing the lineage of receivership and interpleader doctrines may encounter sequestre (or sequestrum) used loosely in transitional texts that blend Roman and English equity vocabulary.
The term is essentially extinct in modern American common law practice. Its appearance in a source is almost always a signal that the text is either directly engaging Roman law, translating from French, or was written before the consolidation of modern sequestration doctrine.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's is the primary English-language dictionary source, and its treatment is deliberately brief. Bouvier defines sequestre in the Roman law sense — a deposit with a stakeholder pending the decision of a certain event or dispute — and cross-references séquestre as simply the French equivalent. He cites the Digest at 16, 3, 17, 1, which is the classical locus for the Roman sequestre within the title on deposit (De deposito). Bouvier also points the reader to the cluster of related terms: sequestration, sequestrator, sequestratio, sequester, dépôt, and deposit.
What the historical dictionaries largely omit is any sustained analysis of how the sequestre differs from ordinary deposit in Roman doctrine — specifically, the rule that the sequestrator's obligation of return runs not to the depositor but to the prevailing party. That functional distinction is what gave the sequestre its utility as a dispute-resolution mechanism and what separates it from a simple bailment. Researchers should not rely on dictionary definitions alone for the doctrinal content; the Digest text itself, and civilian commentators on it, are the authoritative sources.
Jurisdictional Note
In Louisiana and Quebec, séquestre remains a live civilian concept with statutory expression, distinguishable from the common law receivership that performs similar functions in other states and provinces. Researchers should not assume that French-language séquestre in a Louisiana or Quebec legal source carries the same meaning as "sequestration" in a common law jurisdiction.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Sequestration
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Deposit (Roman Law)
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Sequestrator