VERBUM

3 definitions found across Law Mind sources

VERBUMAuthored
The Law Mind • 861 words
Definition
A Latin term meaning "word," used in legal contexts to refer to a word, expression, saying, or clause — particularly as these appear in legal instruments such as writs, pleadings, and contracts. In classical legal usage, verbum carries the sense of a verbal unit that bears legal weight: the precise word chosen, the clause as written, or the formal expression employed in a legal document. The term appears most often in compound Latin phrases and maxims that turn on questions of verbal precision, literal versus liberal construction, and the relationship between words and legal intent.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "Verbum" is the Latin word for "word," corresponding directly to the English noun. In modern English, it appears chiefly in grammatical or scholarly contexts, where it may denote a verb (from the grammatical sense of verbum in classical Latin) or simply a word or utterance. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Webster's treats "verb" (derived from verbum) as the grammatical part of speech, and "verbum" itself as the Latin source term. The dictionary notes the grammatical sense — a word denoting action or state — as the predominant inherited meaning in English derivatives. The gap between common and legal meaning is modest but real. Ordinary usage, and especially grammatical usage, narrows verbum toward either "verb" (a part of speech) or a generic unit of language. Legal usage preserves the broader classical sense of any significant word, expression, or clause in a document — with the additional implication that the word in question may determine rights, obligations, or the legal validity of an instrument. In legal Latin, verbum is not neutral: it signals that meaning, interpretation, and consequences hinge on the exact language used.
Why It Matters in Research
Verbum appears in the Law Mind corpus primarily as a component of Latin maxims and doctrinal phrases rather than as a standalone term. Researchers encountering it in older legal sources should expect it to function as a building block — look to the full phrase for operative meaning. Common maxims incorporating verbum include verborum ordo (the order of words in a writ), verba sunt indices animi (words are indicators of intent), verba chartarum fortius accipiuntur contra proferentem (the words of instruments are taken most strongly against the person who uses them), and in verbis, non verba sed res et ratio quaerenda est (in words, not the words but the substance and reason are to be sought). The interpretive tension between verba (words as literally written) and mens or sententia (the intent or spirit behind the words) runs through centuries of common law and equity jurisprudence. When historical treatises invoke verbum or its plural verba, they are often signaling this tension — whether a court should construe strictly according to the written word or look beyond it. Researchers working in contract interpretation, will construction, statutory construction, or pleading formalities will find this distinction recurring throughout pre-twentieth-century sources. Verborum ordo — the specific compound noted by Burrill — has particular relevance for writ practice. Fleta's treatment of the orderly arrangement of words in writs reflects the medieval common law's formal insistence that the precise sequence of words in a writ could determine its validity. This is a trap in historical pleading research: what reads as pedantry in modern eyes was jurisdictional reality in early common law courts.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the most direct treatment, defining verbum as "[a] word; an expression, or saying; a clause," and noting the compound verborum ordo — the order of words in writs — with citation to Fleta. Burrill traces the term to verum (true), reflecting the classical sense that words, properly arranged, express truth or legal reality. Anderson's Dictionary of Law does not treat verbum as a standalone headword in the excerpted material, though Anderson's covers numerous related Latin phrases. This is typical: verbum functions in legal dictionaries more as the root of compound entries than as a freestanding doctrinal term, and researchers should not expect consistent treatment as an independent headword across the historical shelf. Both dictionaries reflect the broader tradition of civil law and common law Latin lexicography, in which classical terms are defined contextually rather than doctrinally. Neither source flags the interpretive stakes — the verba versus mens debate — that give verbum its real significance in legal argument. Researchers should supplement dictionary sources with treatise material on legal construction and interpretation for the full picture.
Related Terms
Verba — the plural form; appears more frequently in legal maxims and construction doctrine than the singular Verborum ordo — the arrangement of words in writs; formal pleading concept derived from verbum Construction — the interpretive process to which questions of verbum most often lead Mens — intent; the counterpart to verba in the literal-versus-liberal construction debate Sententia — meaning or sense; often contrasted with verba in maxims of interpretation Expressum facit cessare tacitum — related maxim: what is expressed makes what is implied cease Contra proferentem — doctrine of construction against the drafter; closely linked to verbum-based maxims In limine — related Latin procedural phrase appearing in the same corpus of legal Latin
VERBUMmain
Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890
In hoc. In this; as to this. In individuo. In the undivided state: entire. In infinitum. To infinity; indefinitely. In initio. In the beginning; from the first. In integrum. In the unbroken state: whole, entire. In invitum. Against one not assenting: unwillingly; as, a tax levied in invitum. See INVITUS. In judicio. By judicial procedure; in court. In jure. In right: rightfully. In limine. At the threshold: at first inception; at first opportunity. An objection to testimony must be offered in limine.1 In litem. In the suit. See OATH, In litem. In loco parentis. In the place of the parent. Guardians and teachers are said to stand in loco parentis. See further PARENS. In misericordia. In mercy. Abridged in m'ia. See MERCY. In mitiori sensu. In the milder meaning. See SLANDER; SENSUS. In mortua manu. In dead hand - mortmain, q. v. In nubibus. In the clouds: in abeyance. In nullo erratum. In nothing is there error. See ERRATUM. In odium spoliatoris. In hatred of a despoiler. See ALTERATION, 2: SPOLIATION. In pari causa. In an equal cause: equal right. In pari delicto. In equal wrongdoing. See DELICTUM. In pari materia. On like subject. See MATERIA; REPEAL. In perpetuam rei memoriam. For preserving evidence of the matter. In personam. Against the person; opposed to in rem, q. v. See PERSONA. In pios usus. See USE, 3, Pious. For religious purposes. 109 U. S. 70, 71; 121 id. 400. At present time. See In propria persona. In his own person. See PERSONA. In propria causa. In his own suit. See Venire facias. That you cause to come. A writ commanding that jurors be summoned. The emphatic words in the old Latin writ, the full expression being venire facias juratores. Often termed simply the venire.1 Venireman. A person who appears, as a juror, in obedience to the command of a venire facias. This word would seem, in Virginia, to be contrasted with "talesman," a by-stander who is taken as a juror.2 The common-law venire commanded the sheriff to "cause to come" a certain number of jurors; and the command included: the selection of the names of qualified men, summoning the persons drawn, a return of the writ, with the sheriff's action under it, whereby he "returned and delivered in" the jury to the court-showing the identity of the persons appearing with the persons drawn. 3 Venire facias de novo. That you cause to come anew. An order, by a court of review, that a new trial be had; also, the writ which summons jurors for such a trial. Shortened to venire de novo. The award of a venire de novo is in no instance more than an order for a new trial in a cause in which the verdict or judgment is erroneous in matters of law. It is never equivalent to a new suit. 4 A trial de novo does not mean a trial on appeal with nothing but the record to correct errors, but a trial of the entire case anew, including hearing evidence, whether additional or not. When the court of review reverses a judgment entered upon a verdict for the plaintiff, but awards no venire de novo, the reversal constitutes no bar to another suit for the same cause of action. L. What is spoken; a word. Verba. Words, language, discourse. Ex visceribus verborum. From the bowels of the words: from the vital part of the language.s In hæc verba, and in hiis verbis. In these words. In totidem verbis, or totidem verbis. In the very same words. 11 Bl. Com. 130; 33 Me. 48; 9 Metc. 263; 22 N. J. LL. 57; 91 U. S. 638. • See Doe v. Keen, 7 T. R. 386 (1797). F. venuë, a coming, place of arrival. 3 Bl. Com. 383. * McKenna v. Fisk, 1 How. 248 (1843), cases. Bean v. Ayers, 67 Me. 486-87 (1878), cases. Territory v. Egan, 3 Dak. 125 (1882); People t Yoakum, 53 Cal. 567 (1879); 16 Minn. 282. 8 10 Johns. 494; 47 Pa. 398.
VERBUMmain
Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1870
Lat. [from verum, true.] A word; an expression, or saying; a clause. Calv. Lex. Verborum ordo; the order of words; the orderly arrangement of words in writs. Fleta, lib. 4, c. 10, § 3.

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