TUM EST PER CURIAM

2 definitions found across Law Mind sources

TUM EST PER CURIAMAuthored
The Law Mind • 758 words
Definition
"Tum est per curiam" is a Latin procedural phrase meaning "then it is by the court" or "then the court says." It appears in older reported cases and legal records as a scribal or reporter's marker indicating that what follows is the court's ruling, pronouncement, or direction — as distinguished from the arguments of counsel, the statement of facts, or a jury finding. The phrase signals the transition to the court's own voice in a recorded proceeding. In practice, the phrase functioned as a structural annotation in law reports, alerting the reader that the court itself is speaking. It is closely related to the more familiar "per curiam" (by the court) but carries the temporal marker "tum" (then, at that point), suggesting it was used at a specific moment in a proceeding rather than as a general attribution of authorship to a court opinion. ---
Common Confusion
"Tum est per curiam" is sometimes loosely grouped with "per curiam" opinions as a modern concept — anonymous or unsigned opinions attributed to the court as a whole. These are different things. The modern per curiam opinion is a product of appellate practice and editorial convention in official reporters. "Tum est per curiam" is a structural annotation from pre-modern manuscript and print reporting that marks a moment in a proceeding, not a type of opinion. Applying modern per curiam doctrine to passages introduced by "tum est per curiam" in early sources will produce anachronistic readings. ---
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in early English reports, Year Books, or American colonial and early republic case records will encounter Latin structural markers used by reporters to organize what were often skeletal accounts of proceedings. "Tum est per curiam" is one such marker, and misreading it as substantive legal doctrine rather than a reporter's annotation can distort interpretation of the underlying ruling. The key navigational point: in sources where this phrase appears, the content immediately following it carries the weight of the court's holding or direction. Content before it — often introduced by phrases like "quaesitum fuit" (it was asked) or counsel's arguments — is not the court's ruling. Conflating the two is a common error when working with pre-modern reports. Because Bouvier's Law Dictionary does not include an entry for this specific phrase (the source material provided under this headword appears to contain a misassignment — the text given corresponds to the CONSIDERATION entry, not a "tum est per curiam" definition), researchers should treat this term as a reporter's convention documented in primary sources rather than a defined term of art with a doctrinal dictionary lineage. If you are tracing the phrase through corpus sources, look to treatises on Latin legal phrases (such as Mozley & Whiteley's Law Dictionary or Jowitt's Dictionary of English Law) and to editions of the Year Books or early English reports with editorial glossaries. Bracton's Note Book and Selden Society publications are productive primary sources. ---
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's Law Dictionary does not appear to contain a substantive entry for "tum est per curiam." The source material provided in connection with this headword reproduces Bouvier's definition of CONSIDERATION, suggesting either a cataloging error in the source corpus or that Bouvier did not treat this phrase as a standalone entry. Researchers should not rely on Bouvier for this term. Other historical legal dictionaries — including Jacob's Law Dictionary and Tomlin's Law Dictionary — address "per curiam" as a general phrase but do not isolate the "tum est" variant as a distinct entry. The phrase's significance lies in its use as a reporter's convention, and its documentation is better found in treatises on legal Latin and in editorial apparatus to the old reports than in the dictionary tradition. What historical sources collectively confirm: "per curiam" as a phrase has a well-established dictionary presence indicating court authorship of a statement or ruling. The "tum est" prefix is a temporal and transitional refinement of that convention, well understood by trained readers of early reports but rarely defined in isolation. ---
Jurisdictional Note
This phrase appears primarily in English legal sources and their American successors. It has no operative meaning in modern American or English court practice, where it survives only as a historical artifact in reprinted early reports. Civil law jurisdictions do not use this phrase. ---
Related Terms
Per curiam — Curia — Ex parte — Quaesitum fuit — Law reporter (historical) — Year Books — Dictum — Holding
TUM EST PER CURIAMmain
Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928
CONSIDERATION (L. Latin, con- sideratio). An act or forbearance, or the promise thereof, which is offered by one party to an agreement, and accepted by the other as an inducement to that other's act or promise. Poll. Contr. 91. Blackstone defines it to be the reason which moves a contracting party to enter into a contract (2 Com. 448); but this defini- tion is manifestly defective because it is within the distinction so well taken by Pat- teson, J., who says:-" It is not to be con- founded with motive, which is not the same thing as consideration. The latter means something which is of value in the eye of the law, moving from the plaintiff, either of benefit to the plaintiff or of detriment to the defendant;" Langd. Sel. Cas. Cont. 168; s. c. 2 Q. B. 851. In distinguishing between consideration and motive a help- ful criterion is to be found in the expression **nothing is consideration that is not re- garded as such by both parties; " 14 Wall. 570, 577; 110 Mass. 389; 79 Ind. 549, 551. The price, motive, or matter of induce- ment to a contract, whether it be the compensation which is paid, or the incon- venience which is suffered by the party from whom it proceeds. A compensation or equivalent. A cause or occasion meri- torious, requiring mutual recompense in deed or in law. Viner, Abr. Considera- tion (A). It is also defined as "any act of the plaintiff from which the defendant or a stranger derives a benefit or advantage, or any labor, detriment, or inconven- lence sustained by the plaintiff, however small, if such act is performed or inconvenience suffered by the plaintiff by the consent, express or implied, of the defendant." Tindal, C. J., in 8 Scott 250. Ac cording to Kent it must be:-given in exchange, mutual, an inducement to the contract, lawful, and of sufficient value, with respect to the assumption. 2 Com. 464. Concurrent considerations are those which arise at the same time or where the promises are simultaneous and reciprocal. Continuing considerations are those which consist of acts which must neces- sarily continue over a considerable period of time. Executed considerations are acts done or values given at the time of making the contract. Leake, Contr. 18, 612. Executory considerations are promises to do or give something at a future day. Ibid. Good considerations are those of blood, natural love or affection, and the like. Motives of natural duty, generosity, and prudence come under this class; 2 Bla. Com. 297; 2 Johns. 52; 10 id. 293; 2 Bail. 588; 1 M'Cord 504; 2 Leigh 887; 20 Vt. 595; 1 C. & P. 401 48 Ohio St. 562; 150 Pa. 98; 61 Conn. 50. The only purpose for which a good consideration may be effectual is to support a covenant to stand seized to uses; Shep. Touchst. 512. The term is sometimes used in the sense of a consideration valid in point of law; and it then in- cludes a valuable as well as a meritorious consider- ation; 8 Cra. 140: 2 Aik. 601; 24 N. H. 802; 2 Madd. 480; 8 Co. 81; Ambl. 598; 1 Ed. Ch. 167. Generally, however, good is used in antithesis to valuable. Illegal considerations are acts, which if done or promises which if enforced, would be prejudicial to the public interest. Har- riman, Cont. 101. Impossible considerations are those which cannot be performed. Moral considerations are such as are based upon a moral duty. Past consideration is an act done before the contract is made, and is ordinarily by itself no consideration for a promise; An- son, Contr. 82. Pollock considers that whether a past benefit is, in any case, a good consideration is a question not free from uncertainty. On principle it should not be. Possible exceptions might be ser- vices rendered on request, without definite promise of reward (see Hob. 105) and vol- untarily doing something which one was legally bound to do. Also a promise to pay a debt barred by the statute of limitations; but he considers that none of these excep- tions are logical. See Poll. Cont. 170. Valuable considerations are either some benefit conferred upon the party by whom the promise is made, or upon a third party at his instance or request; or some detri- ment sustained, at the instance of the party promising, by the party in whose favor the promise is made. Chit. Contr. 7; Doct. & Stud. 179; 2 Pet. 182; 5 Cra. 142, 150; 1 Litt. 188; 8 Johns. 100; 8 N. Y. 207; 6 Mass. 58; 2 Bibb 30; 2 J. J. Marsh. 222; 2 Ν. Η. 97; Wright, Ohio 660; 18 S. & R. 29; 12 Ga. 52; 24 Miss. 9; 4 III. 33; 5 Humphr. 19; 4 Blackf. 388; 3 C. B. 321; 4 East 55; 96 N. C. 67. The detriment to the prom- isee must be a detriment on entering into the contract and not from the breach of it; 2 Misc. Rep. 298. "A valuable consideration may consist either in some right, interest, profit, or benefit accruing to one party, or some for- bearance, detriment, loss, or responsibility given, suffered, or undertaken by the other." L. R. 10 Ex. 162. See 5 Pick. 880. A valuable consideration is usually in some way pecuniary, or convertible into money; and a very slight consi

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