assumpsit

[uh-suhmp-sit]

noun

Law.

1. a legal action for a breach of contract or promise not under seal.

2. an actionable promise.

assumpsit

/ əˈsʌmpsɪt /

noun

1. law (before 1875) an action to recover damages for breach of an express or implied contract or agreement that was not under seal

Word History and Origins

Origin of assumpsit¹

1605–15; < Latin: he has taken upon himself, he has undertaken

Word History and Origins

Origin of assumpsit¹

C17: from Latin, literally: he has undertaken, from assūmere to _assume

Example Sentences

She would open her Harvard law class not by introducing herself but by calling on a student and asking what “assumpsit,” a legal term, means.

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They include bigly, deplorable, irregardless, icon, assumpsit, faute de mieux, in omnia paratus, revenant and feckless.

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Paine pleaded non assumpsit, and, after gaining the case, paid Wilburn the money.

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Stemming from it is "assumpsit", which provided damages for breach of an oral agreement and for a written agreement without a seal.

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He used to say sometimes to his conducting man, with a smile, sly and holy, up at the yellow letters of one of the tin deed-boxes on his shelves at the Lodge, after an adroit conversation, "I think it will puzzle him, rather, to make an assumpsit out of that."

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Related Words

• accusation 
• action 
• argument 
• bill 
• case 
• claim 
• dispute 
• impeachment 
• indictment 
• litigation 
• prosecution 
• suit 
• trial