trespass vi et armis
- noun
- Archaic
:
trespaso vi et armis
- The landowner sued for trespass vi et armis following the vandalism of his orchard.
Examples
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The judge ruled that the defendant was liable for trespass vi et armis due to the use of force in the dispute.
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Historically, trespass vi et armis required the plaintiff to prove direct force.
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Cases of trespass vi et armis are rare in modern courts but still inform legal doctrine.
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The court found him guilty of trespass vi et armis.
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Did the defendant commit trespass vi et armis during the incident?
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The landowner successfully brought a case of trespass vi et armis against the individuals who damaged his property.
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In legal terms, trespass vi et armis involves entering someone's land with harmful intentions or actions.
Surface Forms
Morphology
trespass + vi + et + armis
This is a Latin legal formula (literally 'trespass by force and arms') whose key constituents (vi, et, armis) are not English words and form specialized legal jargon. A B1 learner who knows the English word 'trespass' would still not reliably derive the exact legal sense because the Latin elements and the legal register are unfamiliar and not compositionally transparent in everyday English.
Etymology
Trespass vi et armis is a legal phrase from old law that literally says 'with force and arms'. The words vi, meaning 'force', and armis, meaning 'weapons', create the image of someone attacking a person or damaging land with a weapon. That is why it means a wrongful act done using force or weapons that causes injury to a person or their property.
