Legal Definitions - de alto et basso

De alto et basso

De alto et basso refers to a historical legal concept where all parties involved in a disagreement agree to completely submit every aspect of their dispute, no matter how significant or minor, to a neutral third party for a final and binding decision. This means granting an arbitrator full authority to resolve all outstanding issues, from the most critical to the seemingly trivial, without any reservations.

Here are some examples:

• Dissolving Business Partnership: Imagine two business partners, Sarah and Tom, decide to dissolve their company. They have major disagreements about how to divide the company's assets and intellectual property, but also minor squabbles over who gets to keep certain office equipment or client lists. To avoid a lengthy court battle, they agree to submit de alto et basso to an independent business arbitrator. This means the arbitrator will make the final decision on every single point of contention, from the multi-million dollar asset split to the ownership of a specific filing cabinet, and Sarah and Tom commit to accepting all of those decisions.

• Historical Village Feud: In a historical context, consider two neighboring families in a small village who have been feuding for generations over a disputed property line, shared water rights, and even a long-forgotten insult. Tired of the constant conflict, both families agree to present all their grievances, both large and small, to the village elder for a definitive resolution. By agreeing to de alto et basso, they commit to accepting the elder's judgment on every single issue, from the land boundary to the ancient insult, thereby putting an end to their entire dispute.