contemporanea expositio
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.11 in modern English
37
Scrabble Score
22
Letters
8
Syllables
12
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The doctrine that the legal opinions of the time a document was written should be used to interpret laws in preference to more modern formulations.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "We have the contemporanea expositio of Edward the Sixth, but what is the contemporanea expositio of Charles the Second ?"
- "This is the contemporanea expositio which is to prove that the doctrine of the sacraments is not delivered fully in the Articles ; being in fact about a totally different question !"
- "This was the clear result of the 1st George I., taken in conjunction with the other statutes, and the contemporanea expositio confirmed this construction."
- "The contemporanea expositio is a safe key to the meaning of deeds, and in Evelyn's Memoirs, written fourteen years after the complete establishment of the Charter House, we have a striking illustration of the original rule as he understood it […]"
- "Not only do I think that they must be read in conjunction, but the usage which has followed the Union has, in my judgment, both interpreted them when so read, and has by contemporanea expositio confirmed the view that they ought to be so read."
- "It was reasonably clear upon the argument submitted in the Court of Session that, at the time when the Act came into force, it was regarded by contemporanea expositio as applying to the Crown, but any doubt which might have existed was set ..."
Etymology
From Latin contemporanea expositio (“that which was said at the time”). Part of the expression contemporanea expositio est optima et fortissima, in lege ("contemporaneous explanation is best and strongest in law").