SINE

8 definitions found across Law Mind sources

SINEAuthored
The Law Mind • 770 words
Definition
A Latin preposition meaning "without." Sine appears in legal usage almost exclusively as part of compound Latin phrases rather than as a standalone term. It functions as a building block for several important procedural and substantive concepts found throughout common law and civil law traditions. The most frequently encountered phrases include: 1. Sine die ("without a day"): Used to describe an adjournment or dismissal without a date set for reconvening or return. A legislature that adjourns sine die has concluded its session indefinitely. A case dismissed sine die is discharged without scheduling a future appearance or hearing. 2. Sine qua non ("without which not"): An indispensable condition or cause; something without which a result could not have occurred. Used in tort law and legal reasoning generally to identify a necessary prerequisite. 3. Sine fraude ("without fraud"): A phrase appearing in some older legal instruments and civil law contexts to qualify a transaction or obligation as free from fraudulent intent. Other compound phrases — sine die, sine hoc, sine mora, sine prole — appear in historical pleading, property documents, and civil law sources.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): In modern general usage, "sine" is recognized as a mathematical term (a trigonometric function), and as an acronym in genomics and pharmacology. The Latin preposition meaning "without" is not a general English word. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Webster's 1913 treats "sine" exclusively as a mathematical term — the trigonometric ratio. The Latin preposition sense is not entered as an English word. Editorial note: The legal use of "sine" has nothing to do with mathematics or modern scientific acronyms. Researchers encountering the term in legal sources should immediately read it as the Latin preposition "without" and look for the compound phrase it introduces. The disconnect between common and legal usage is absolute here — the words share spelling only.
Common Confusion
Researchers unfamiliar with Latin legal vocabulary sometimes encounter "sine" in isolation in older indexes or headnotes and mistake it for a typographical fragment or abbreviation rather than recognizing it as the first word of a compound Latin phrase. The full phrase — sine die, sine qua non, etc. — carries the operative meaning. The preposition alone has no independent legal significance.
Why It Matters in Research
Sine is primarily a search and indexing challenge. Historical legal databases and digests sometimes index entries under the full Latin phrase (e.g., "sine die") and sometimes under the first word alone. Researchers searching for procedural dismissals, legislative adjournments, or causation doctrine should be prepared to search both the compound phrase and its component words. Sine die is the form most likely to affect practical research: statutes, legislative journals, and court rules use the phrase to describe final adjournments and indefinite dismissals. Its procedural significance differs by context — a sine die adjournment of a legislature may have constitutional implications for the fate of pending legislation; a sine die dismissal of a civil action may have res judicata consequences depending on jurisdiction. Sine qua non appears heavily in tort scholarship and judicial opinions analyzing causation, particularly in comparative negligence and proximate cause discussions. Researchers tracing the development of but-for causation doctrine will encounter it frequently in both common law and civil law sources. Older pleading records and property documents may use sine hoc, sine fraude, or sine prole (without issue — relevant in estates and remainder interests). These forms appear more often in British and early American sources than in modern practice.
Historical Dictionary Support
All three source dictionaries treat sine briefly and consistently: it is a Latin preposition meaning "without," significant only through its compound phrases. Anderson's provides the most useful practical gloss, noting sine die and sine hoc specifically and cross-referencing absque (the equivalent Latin term also meaning "without," used in the phrase absque hoc in common law pleading). Burrill simply flags the preposition and directs readers forward to its compounds. Black's 2nd Edition does not appear to give sine a standalone entry of substance, addressing its meaning through the compound phrases themselves. No meaningful divergence exists among the historical dictionaries on the core meaning. What they collectively omit is any treatment of sine qua non as a doctrinal concept — that usage developed most fully in academic tort literature and judicial opinions rather than in the dictionary tradition.
Related Terms
Sine die — Sine qua non — Sine prole — Absque (parallel Latin prepositioncommon law pleading equivalent) — Nunc pro tunc — Pro forma — Ex parte — Adjournment — Dismissal — But-for causation — Necessary condition
SINEmain
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910
cess of law, but which in reality is entered by the fraudulent contrivance of the parties, for the purpose of giving to one of them an advantage to which he is not entitled, or of defrauding or delaying third persons.Simulated sale. One which has all the appearance of an actual sale in good faith, intended to transfer the ownership of property for a consideration, but which in reality covers a collusive design of the parties to put the property beyond the reach of creditors, or proceeds from some other fraudulent purpose. Lat. Without. —Sine animo revertendi. Without the intention of returning. 1 Kent. Comm. 78.— Sine assensu capituli. Without the consent of the chapter. In old English practice. A writ which lay where a dean, bishop, prebendary. abbot, prior, or master of a_ hospital aliened the lands holden in the right of his house, abbey, or priory, without the consent of the chapter; in which case his successor might have this writ.. Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 194. I: Cowell.—Siue consideratione cvris. Without the judgment of the court. Feta, lib. 2, c. 47. § 13.—Sine decreto. Withovt author itv of a judge. 2 Kames, Eq. 115.—Sine die. Without day: without assigning a day for a further meeting or hearing. Hence, a_ final adjournment; final dismissal of a cause. Qwod eat sine dée, that he go without day; the old form of a judgment for the defendant, ¢ e., a judgment discharging the defendant from any further appearance in court._Sine hoc qued. Without this, that. A technical phrase in old pleading, of the same import with the a eae “absque hoc quod.”—Sine numero. ithout stint or limit. A term applied to common. Fleta, lib. 4, c. 19, § 8—Sine prole. Without issue. Used in genealogical tables, and often abbreviated into “s. p.”—Sine qua non. Withbout which not. That without which the thing ace be. An indispensable requisite or conition.
SINEmain
Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890
L. Without. Sine die. Without a day - for the reassembling of a body, or for the appearance of a defendant. Sine hoc. Without this. See ABSQUE. Lex rei site. The law of the state where realty is situated, where property lies.¹ Compare LEX, Loci. See PROPERTY.
SINEmain
Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1870
Lat. Without. See infra.
SINEn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
The length of a perpendicular drawn from one extremity of an arc of a circle to the diameter drawn through the other extremity. The perpendicular itself. See Sine of angle, below. Artificial sines, logarithms of the natural sines, or logarithmic sines. -- Curve of sines. See Sinusoid. -- Natural sines, the decimals expressing the values of the sines, the radius being unity. -- Sine of an angle, in a circle whose radius is unity, the sine of the arc that measures the angle; in a right-angled triangle, the side opposite the given angle divided by the hypotenuse. See Trigonometrical function, under Function. -- Versed sine, that part of the diameter between the sine and the arc.
SINEprep.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
Without.
SINEnoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
Acronym of short interspersed element, a type of retrotransposon in genomics. | Acronym of selective inhibitors of nuclear export, a drug for epithelioid sarcoma.
sinenoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
In a right triangle, the ratio of the length of the side opposite an angle to the length of the hypotenuse.

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