chirograph

See also: Chirograph

English

Etymology

From Middle French chirographe, from Ancient Greek χειρόγραφος (kheirógraphos, “written with the hand”) χείρ (kheír, “hand”) + γράφω (gráphō, “write”).

Noun

chirograph (plural chirographs)

1. (law, historical) A kind of medieval document written in duplicate (or more) on a single piece of parchment, then cut across a single word, so that each holder of a portion can prove it matches the others.
2. (law, Catholicism) A papal decree whose circulation, unlike an encyclical, is limited to the Roman curia.
3. (obsolete) The last part of a fine of land; the "foot of the fine".
   • 1741, The Attorney's Practice in the Court of Common Pleas:

     a Record […] called the Chirograph, or Foot of the Fine

Derived terms

• chirography

Translations

Translations

• French: chirographe (fr) m, charte-partie (fr) f

  Old French: cyrografe m

• German: Chirograph n, Teilurkunde f
• Italian: chirografo (it) m
• Latin: chirographum n
• Polish: cyrograf (pl) m

See also

• indenture

References

• “chirograph”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.