SINGULARITER - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

SINGULARITERAuthored

The Law Mind • 649 words

Definition

A Latin adverb meaning "in the singular" or "singly." Used in legal documents, pleadings, and Latin maxims to indicate that a word, term, or reference is to be read or applied in the singular number rather than the plural. The term functions as a grammatical qualifier, directing interpretive attention to the number — singular versus plural — in which a noun or verb should be understood.

In older legal writing, singulariter appears most often in arguments about statutory or contractual construction, where the question is whether a word expressed in one number should be extended to cover the other. The companion term is pluraliter (in the plural). Together they framed a classical mode of textual analysis rooted in Roman law grammar.

Common Confusion

Singulariter should not be confused with singuli (each separately, severally), which carries distinct legal force in questions of joint versus several obligations. The words share a Latin root but operate in different analytical registers: singulariter is a grammatical-number qualifier; singuli addresses the distributive character of rights and duties among multiple parties.

Why It Matters in Research

Researchers encountering singulariter in primary sources are almost always looking at one of two contexts: (1) a Latin maxim being parsed for its grammatical force, or (2) an argument about statutory or contractual construction turning on whether singular language covers plural cases, or vice versa.

The Burrill citation to 11 East, 77 places the term in early nineteenth-century English case law, where Latin still appeared in argument. When tracing such arguments in the Law Mind corpus, note that the interpretive question — does singular language include plural, and vice versa — eventually migrated away from Latin vocabulary entirely. Modern Anglo-American law addresses the same issue through interpretation acts and statutory construction canons (the rule that singular includes plural unless context otherwise requires), making the Latin term largely obsolete in practice but still useful as a search key in historical digests and pleading records.

The Burrill entry also contains an embedded Latin maxim — Si non appareat quid actum est, in contractibus veniunt ea quæ sunt moris et consuetudinis in regione in qua actum est — which appears to have been appended incidentally rather than as a definition of singulariter itself. Researchers should treat that maxim as a separate doctrinal item about custom and usage in contract interpretation (drawn from Digest 50.17.34 and cited with approval in 2 Kent's Commentaries 555), not as part of the meaning of singulariter. This appears to be a transcription artifact in Burrill's entry, likely a page-break carry-over, and should not be interpreted as evidence that singulariter bears any connection to the custom-and-usage rule.

Historical Dictionary Support

Burrill is the only shelf source treating this term, and his entry is minimal: the definition "in the singular" with the single citation to 11 East, 77. The entry is notable more for what it omits than what it provides. Burrill does not explain the paired relationship with pluraliter, does not elaborate on the interpretive function of the term in pleading or maxim construction, and does not cross-reference the broader grammatical canons of Latin legal drafting.

The appended Digest maxim and Kent citation are almost certainly a printing artifact and carry no definitional weight for singulariter. Researchers using Burrill's dictionary in the Law Mind corpus should flag this entry as structurally anomalous.

No other major historical law dictionaries in the standard reference shelf — Jacob, Bouvier, Black — appear to have dedicated entries for singulariter, suggesting the term was treated as self-explanatory Latin by most lexicographers. Its appearance in English legal argument was already receding by the mid-nineteenth century.

SINGULARITERmain

Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1870

Lat. In the singular. 11 East, 77, arg. Si non appareat quid actum est, in contractibus veniunt ea quæ sunt moris et consuetudinis in regione in qua actum est. If it be not clear [if the instrument do not clearly show] what has been done, the custom and usage of the place in which the transaction took place, may be applied in explanation of the contract. Dig. 50. 17. 34. 2 Kent's Com. 555. Si nulla sit conjectura quæ ducat alio, verba intelligenda sunt ex proprietate, non grammatica sed populari ex usu. If there be no conjecture which leads to a different result, [if there be no reasonable ground for a different interpretation,] words are to be understood according to their proper meaning, not in a grammatical but in the popular and ordinary sense. 2 Kent's Com. 555. dolo malo Numerii Negidii Aulo Agerio redditam non esse, quanti ea res erit, tantam pecuniam judex Numerium Negidium Aulo Agerio condemnato; SI NON PARET absolvito. Let be the judge. If it appear that Aulus Agerius has deposited with Numerius Negidius a silver salver, and that it has not been re-delivered to Aulus Agerius through the fraud of Numerius Negidius, let the judge condemn Numerius Negidius to pay Aulus Agerius as much money as the thing shall have been worth: if it does not appear, acquit [him.] Gaius Inst. iv. § 47. Paret was an old form of apparet, (it appears.) Si quid universitati debetur singulis non debetur, nec quod debet universitas singuli debent. If any thing is due to a corporation, it is not due to the individual members of it, nor do the members individually owe what the corporation owes. Dig. 3. 4. 7. A maxim of the civil law. 1 Bl. Com. 484. Si quis in nomine, cognomine, prænomine legatarii erraverit, si de persona constat, nihilominus valet legatum. If one should have made a mistake in the nomen, cognomen or prænomen of a legatee, if it be clear as to the person intended, the legacy is nevertheless valid. Inst. 2. 20. 29.