brocard

Etymology

From French brocard, cognate with Medieval Latin brocarda, brocardicorum opus, a collection of canonical laws written by the bishop Burchard of Worms.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹəʊkəd/, /ˈbɹəʊkɑːd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹoʊkɚd/, /ˈbɹoʊkɑːd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  ,

  Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: brokered

Noun

brocard (plural brocards)

1. (law) A legal principle usually expressed in Latin, traditionally used to concisely express a wider legal concept or rule.
   • 1860, The Journal of Jurisprudence, Edinburgh, vol. IV, p. 414:

     The other question was as to the proper legal meaning of the brocard, “heres heredis mei est heres meus.”

   • 1853, Samuel Owen, The New York Legal Observer, vol. XI, pp. 73-4:

     Blackstone, with a like tenderness of conscience, endeavors to withdraw a single case, a sale of provisions, from the old brocard caveat emptor, and tells us that in such a contract there is a warranty that the provisions are wholesome.

Noun

brocard m (plural brocards)

1. mockery, ridicule

Further reading

• “brocard” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).