Definition
*Sub conditionem* (Latin: "under condition") is a term of art used in conveyancing to indicate that a grant, devise, or transfer of property is made subject to a condition. An estate or interest conveyed *sub conditionem* takes effect, continues, or terminates depending on whether the specified condition is fulfilled, broken, or satisfied. The phrase operates as a signal within the instrument that the grant is not absolute but is qualified by some contingency or requirement attached to it.
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Common Language
This is pure Latin legal terminology with no meaningful counterpart in ordinary English usage. The COMMON LANGUAGE section is omitted.
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Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in early American and English conveyancing materials will encounter *sub conditionem* as a formal term of art rather than a descriptive phrase. Its presence in a deed or grant is a marker that the instrument creates a conditional estate — not a fee simple absolute — and that the surrounding text must be read carefully to identify what condition governs the transfer.
The phrase appears most frequently in older treatises and deed forms from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. As conveyancing practice modernized and plain-English drafting became more common, *sub conditionem* gave way to vernacular equivalents such as "upon condition that," "provided that," or "on condition." Researchers examining pre-twentieth-century title chains or early land grant records should recognize the Latin phrase as functionally equivalent to those modern formulations.
A key research trap: the presence of *sub conditionem* language does not by itself tell you whether the condition created a condition subsequent, a condition precedent, or a determinable limitation. That distinction — which carries significant legal consequences for forfeiture and reversion — must be resolved by reading the full instrument and the surrounding legal context. Historical dictionaries and early treatises will sometimes elide this distinction.
The phrase also appears in non-property contexts — gifts, bequests, ecclesiastical grants, and civil law instruments — wherever a conditional structure is employed. Corpus researchers should not assume that every instance signals a real property transaction.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's Law Dictionary identifies *sub conditionem* as "the proper words to express a condition in a conveyance, and to create an estate upon condition," citing Abbott. This is a narrow but accurate description grounded in the formal vocabulary of common law conveyancing. Bouvier treats the phrase as a technical term of art with recognized legal effect when appearing in an instrument.
The entry is brief, which reflects the phrase's status: it was not contested doctrine but established drafting convention. Bouvier does not address the civil law usage of the phrase, which has a parallel tradition in Roman and canon law contexts where conditional obligations and grants were similarly denominated. Researchers working in civil law jurisdictions or ecclesiastical records will find the phrase carrying the same structural meaning — conditionality — but operating within a different legal framework.
No significant divergence exists among historical sources on the core meaning. The gap in historical dictionary coverage lies in what the sources do not address: the downstream consequences of conditional language, which depend entirely on how courts in the relevant jurisdiction characterized the condition.
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Jurisdictional Note
The phrase appears across both common law and civil law traditions with consistent meaning — a grant made under or subject to a condition — but its legal consequences vary by jurisdiction. In common law systems, the characterization of the condition as precedent or subsequent, or the estate as determinable, affects whether breach triggers automatic termination or requires entry or action by the grantor.
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