Definition
Latin: "Together with all other things." A phrase used in old conveyancing to indicate that a grant or conveyance carries with it not only the specifically enumerated property or rights but also all other appurtenances, easements, and incidents belonging to or associated with the subject matter of the conveyance. The phrase functioned as a sweeping dragnet clause, intended to ensure that nothing incidental or accessory to the granted property was inadvertently left behind by the enumeration of particulars.
Why It Matters in Research
This term will appear almost exclusively in pre-modern conveyancing instruments and the legal commentary surrounding them. Researchers encountering it in historical deeds, grants, or pleadings should treat it as a signal that the drafter intended the conveyance to capture a broad bundle of rights beyond what is explicitly named. The practical effect in historical property disputes was often significant: courts had to determine whether the phrase extended to particular appurtenances or rights not otherwise mentioned.
The phrase is largely obsolete in modern drafting, replaced by standardized "together with all appurtenances" clauses or statutory short-form conveyancing language. Researchers working in American property records from the colonial and early national periods, or in English common law materials before the nineteenth century, are most likely to encounter it. When tracing title chains in older instruments, the presence of this phrase can bear on whether a particular easement, right of way, or accessory right passed with the original grant — a question that may still have live consequences in boundary and easement disputes involving ancient deeds.
Do not confuse the phrase with boilerplate that is merely ceremonial. In the period when it was in active use, such sweeping clauses were construed by courts and could be argued to expand or limit the scope of a grant depending on context.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the core entry: "Together with all other things. A phrase in old conveyancing." Burrill cites Hobart 175 (a report of early seventeenth-century English common law decisions) as authority, placing the phrase firmly in the classical conveyancing tradition. This is consistent with the broader practice of that era, when conveyancers loaded instruments with comprehensive Latin sweeping clauses to guard against technical deficiency.
Burrill appends to this entry a separate but adjacent maxim — Una persona vix potest supplere vices duarum ("One person can hardly fill the places of two") — noting that the passage cited from Coke (7 Co. 118a, Acton's Case) actually reads differently: Difficile est ut unus homo vicem duorum sustineat ("It is difficult for one man to fill the place or discharge the duty of two"). This editorial correction by Burrill is a useful reminder that Latin maxims in historical sources sometimes circulated in variant forms, and that the citation trail should be followed carefully when the precise wording matters.
No modern legal dictionaries of general circulation carry a substantive entry for this phrase, reflecting its obsolescence as active legal vocabulary. Researchers relying solely on twentieth- or twenty-first-century reference works would find no guidance; the older dictionaries — Burrill, Jacob, Tomlin, Bouvier's earlier editions — are the appropriate shelf resources.
Jurisdictional Note
The phrase originates in English common law conveyancing and was carried into American practice through colonial and early national legal culture. It has no meaningful modern jurisdictional variation because it is no longer in active use in any U.S. jurisdiction as a drafting term; its relevance today is strictly interpretive and historical.