Definition
*Verba de futuro* (Latin: "words of the future") is a common law phrase referring to words of promise or agreement expressed in the future tense, as opposed to words spoken in the present tense (*verba de præsenti*). The phrase appears most prominently in the pre-Reformation and early common law doctrine of marriage formation, where a distinction was drawn between two modes of contracting matrimony:
1. A promise to marry at a future time ("I will take you as my wife"), constituting a *sponsalia de futuro* — an engagement or betrothal — which did not by itself constitute a valid marriage but created an enforceable obligation.
2. A declaration of present consent ("I take you as my wife"), constituting a *sponsalia de præsenti* and forming an immediately binding marriage under canon law.
The legal weight of *verba de futuro* was conditional: standing alone, such words created a binding promise to marry but not the marriage itself. However, under canon law doctrine absorbed into early English ecclesiastical practice, *verba de futuro* followed by sexual consummation was treated as equivalent to a completed marriage, on the theory that the act of consummation supplied the missing present consent.
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Common Confusion
VERBA DE FUTURO is frequently paired with — and sometimes confused with — PER VERBA DE PRÆSENTI. The two terms are not synonyms but polar opposites within the same doctrinal framework. *Verba de præsenti* creates an immediate legal status; *verba de futuro* creates only a contingent obligation. The confusion is compounded because Rapalje & Lawrence cross-references the term without a standalone definition, directing researchers to the *per verba de præsenti* entry — a common 19th-century dictionary practice that obscures the distinct legal function of each phrase. Researchers encountering either term in historical sources should read them together but keep their legal effects distinct.
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Why It Matters in Research
This term belongs almost entirely to the historical legal record. Researchers will encounter *verba de futuro* in three primary contexts:
**Canon law and ecclesiastical court records.** Pre-Reformation and early post-Reformation English ecclesiastical courts adjudicated disputed marriages under canon law principles. The *verba de futuro / verba de præsenti* distinction was the operative test for whether a valid marriage existed. Researchers working in probate, inheritance, dower, or legitimacy disputes in English or early American records may find this doctrine invoked to determine marital status.
**Breach of promise actions.** A promise to marry expressed in *verba de futuro* was the foundation of the common law action for breach of promise of marriage (*actio promissi matrimonii*). Such actions survived well into the 19th and early 20th centuries in American and English courts. The words actually spoken or written — future tense versus present tense — were legally operative, making the Latin terminology directly relevant to pleadings and evidence in those cases.
**Equity and contract doctrine.** Because *verba de futuro* followed by consummation could ripen into a completed marriage, cases involving property settlements, dower rights, or legitimacy of children sometimes turned on whether consummation had occurred. The doctrine bridges ecclesiastical law and common law property analysis in ways that may not be obvious from the contract or property documents alone.
Researchers should be alert to the fact that most American jurisdictions had effectively abolished the ecclesiastical marriage-by-consent doctrine and formalized marriage requirements by the mid-19th century, making this term largely obsolete in American legal practice after that period. Its persistence in legal dictionaries into the late 19th century reflects the lag between doctrinal change and reference literature.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Rapalje & Lawrence (1883) provides no independent entry for *verba de futuro*, instead directing readers to PER VERBA DE PRÆSENTI. This cross-reference-only treatment reflects the term's treatment in 19th-century American legal lexicography generally: the substantive law was understood to live under the *per verba de præsenti* heading, with the *de futuro* phrase treated as its definitional foil rather than a concept requiring independent elaboration. This approach is adequate for practitioners who already understand the doctrinal framework but unhelpful for researchers approaching the term cold.
Earlier and more comprehensive treatment appears in ecclesiastical and canon law sources, including Blackstone's *Commentaries* (Book I, Chapter 15), where the distinction is laid out with characteristic clarity. Blackstone identifies the consummation rule directly: *verba de futuro* cum copula converts a betrothal into a completed marriage. This account remained the standard common law treatment throughout the 19th century.
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Jurisdictional Note
The *verba de futuro* doctrine was operative in English ecclesiastical courts and carried into early American colonial practice, but its relevance diminished sharply as American states enacted formal marriage solemnization statutes. Common law marriage doctrines, which some states retained, do not typically preserve the *verba de futuro / de præsenti* distinction in its classical form. Researchers working in jurisdictions that recognized common law marriage should consult state-specific authorities rather than assuming classical canon law doctrine applies.
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