Legal Definitions - collatio signorum

Collatio signorum is a historical legal term referring to a method used to determine if a seal on a document was authentic. It involved comparing a questioned seal with another seal that was already known to be genuine, looking for matching characteristics to confirm its legitimacy.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a medieval royal court receiving a decree supposedly from a neighboring kingdom. To ensure the decree was not a forgery, the court's scribes would examine the wax seal affixed to the document. They would then perform collatio signorum by comparing this seal against a collection of known, authentic seals from that specific kingdom, perhaps from previous diplomatic correspondence. If the questioned seal matched the known genuine examples in its design, impression, and any unique imperfections, it would be deemed authentic.

• Consider a dispute over a historical land ownership document, such as a deed or charter from several centuries ago. One party might challenge the validity of the document, claiming the seal of the original grantor (the person who transferred the land) is fake. A legal authority at the time would apply collatio signorum by taking the seal from the disputed deed and meticulously comparing it to other undisputed documents known to bear the genuine seal of that specific grantor, such as other property records or official pronouncements. A precise match would help confirm the deed's authenticity.

• In a historical context, if a will or testament bearing a personal seal was presented to an executor, and there was doubt about its origin, the executor might use collatio signorum. They would compare the seal on the will to other documents, letters, or contracts that were definitively known to have been sealed by the deceased individual during their lifetime. This comparison would help verify that the will was indeed sealed by the person it purported to be from, rather than being a fraudulent creation.