Legal Definitions - divinare

Divinare refers to the act of foretelling or discerning something, often through intuition, insight, or interpretation of signs, rather than through direct observation or established facts. It implies an attempt to uncover hidden truths or predict future events.

• Example 1: In ancient legal systems, a ruler or council might consult oracles or seers to divinare whether a proposed law would bring prosperity or misfortune to the kingdom before enacting it.

  Explanation: This illustrates divinare as the act of attempting to foretell the future consequences of a legal action, relying on a method beyond empirical analysis.

• Example 2: A defense attorney, observing the subtle reactions of the jury during closing arguments, might try to divinare which aspects of their presentation resonated most strongly and which arguments fell flat.

  Explanation: Here, divinare is used to describe the intuitive process of discerning or predicting the jury's likely leanings or reactions based on non-verbal cues, without direct knowledge of their thoughts.

• Example 3: When a contract contains ambiguous language, a court might need to divinare the original intent of the parties by examining surrounding circumstances, prior dealings, and industry customs, even if that intent was not explicitly stated.

  Explanation: This example demonstrates divinare as the process of discerning a hidden or unstated meaning or intention from available, often indirect, evidence to resolve a legal dispute.