Definition
A Latin maxim from the common law tradition meaning "to expend" or, in the sense recorded in legal usage, describing the function of deliberating and giving counsel. The phrase appears in early commentary on the legal profession, particularly in discussions of the advisory role of counsel as distinct from advocacy or judicial function. It captures the idea of applying learned judgment to a client's or court's situation — the expenditure of professional knowledge and advice.
Why It Matters in Research
This term will appear almost exclusively in Latin-heavy early common law texts and commentaries, not in modern legal writing or statutes. Researchers encountering it should treat it as a descriptor of professional function rather than a term of art with operative legal consequences. Its principal significance is interpretive: when early treatise writers use this phrase, they are characterizing what lawyers or sergeants do — deliberate, advise, and give learned opinion — as opposed to what judges do (decide) or advocates do (argue before a tribunal).
The single primary locus of this term in the Law Mind corpus is Blackstone's Commentaries, Book I, at page 168, where Blackstone discusses the structure of the English legal profession. Researchers working on the history of the bar, the distinction between barristers and solicitors, or the professional obligations of counsel will want to trace this passage closely. The term is unlikely to appear in American legal materials except in direct quotation or commentary on Blackstone.
Because the phrase is Latin and archaic, keyword searching may require variant forms or searching for the Blackstone passage directly rather than the phrase itself.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary records the phrase succinctly as "To discuss and give advice," citing Blackstone's Commentaries, Book I at page 168. Burrill's treatment is minimal — a gloss rather than an analysis — which reflects the term's role as a background descriptor rather than a contested or frequently litigated concept. No further elaboration appears in the corpus's other historical dictionary sources.
The brevity of Burrill's entry is itself informative: this phrase was evidently clear enough to early legal readers that extended explanation was unnecessary. Modern researchers should not expect to find the term in Bouvier's or Black's in ways that add substantive doctrinal content. The historical sources are in agreement on the core meaning; there is no meaningful divergence to navigate.
What the historical dictionaries collectively miss is any discussion of how this function — giving professional advice and counsel — later became the basis for professional privilege, fiduciary duty, and bar regulation in both English and American law. The substantive legal architecture built on this concept is better traced through encyclopedia treatments of attorney-client privilege and the history of the legal profession than through dictionary entries for the Latin phrase itself.
Jurisdictional Note
This term has no independent jurisdictional significance. It is a Latin descriptive phrase from English common law commentary and carries no different meaning across American jurisdictions. Its relevance is historical and interpretive.