The Latin prep. sub (with the ablative) ‘under,’ enters into a few legal and other phrases, now or formerly in common use, the chief of which are given below.
1. sub camino (?).
1734. Short, Nat. Hist. Min. Waters, 132. He posts off to one of the obscure Universities in Holland or France, gets dubbed Doctor with a sub Camino Degree in Physick.
2. sub dio, under the open sky, in the open air.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 28. He walked not sub dio, that is, vnder the open aire as the rest did.
1673. Ray, Journ. Low C., 403. At Aleppo … they set their beds upon the roofs of their houses, and sleep sub Dio, in the open air.
1704. Swift, T. Tub, ii. Attended the Levee sub dio.
1775. G. White, Selborne, To Barrington, 2 Oct. The sturdy sayages [sc. gipsies] seem to pride themselves … in living sub dio the whole year round.
1880. Shorthouse, John Inglesant, xviii. I would always … be ‘sub dio’ if it were possible.
3. sub forma pauperis = in forma pauperis (see ǁ IN 4).
1592. Soliman & Pers., I. iv. 89. Crie the chayne for me Sub forma pauperis, for money goes very low with me at this time.
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle, 1492. Poor Codrus is Constraind to sue sub forma pauperis.
1654. R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 127. Should a Patient be bound to give all his Advisers a Fee, He must quickly be removed … to the Hospital, there to bee sick sub forma pauperis.
4. sub hasta, lit. ‘under a spear’ (see SPEAR sb. 3 b], i.e., by auction (cf. SUBHASTATION).
1689. Evelyn, Lett. to Pepys, 12 Aug. The humour of exposing books sub hastâ is become so epidemical.
5. sub Jove frigido, under the chilly sky, in the open air.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., i. A peripatetic brother of the brush, who exercised his vocation sub Jove frigido.
1845. Ford, Handbk. Spain, I. 121. Not sub Jove frigido, but amid the bursting, life-pregnant vegetation of the South.
6. sub judice, lit. ‘under a judge’; under the consideration of a judge or court; undecided, not yet settled, still under consideration.
1613. J. Chamberlain, in Crt. & Times Jas. I. (1848), I. 279. Lord Hay is like … to be made an earl, but whether English or Scottish is yet sub judice.
1681. Stair, Inst. Law Scot., I. xvi. 334. The Relict did also claim a Terce out of that same one Tenement, which is yet sub judice.
1778. Gen. C. Lee, in Mem. (1792), 426. Lingering in suspence, whilst his fame and fortune are sub judice.
a. 1817. T. Dwight, Trav. New Eng., etc. (1821), I. 104. They plainly consider the case as no longer sub-judice.
1828. De Quincey, Rhetoric, Wks. 1890, X. 110. The relations of the People and the Crown … continued sub judice from that time to 1688.
1897. Daily News, 10 Dec., 8/3. He said the matter was being considered by the Committee, and therefore was sub judice.
7. sub lite, in dispute.
1892. Nation, 8 Dec., 438/3. Mr. Petrie’s dates are still, with good reason, sub lite.
8. sub modo, under certain conditions, with a qualification, within limits.
a. 1623. Swinburne, Treat. Spousals (1686), 139. If a Man and a Woman contract Matrimony Sub modo.
1726. Ayliffe, Parergon, 336. That this Paragium or Legacy descends to her Executors like other Legacies bequeath’d purely and sub modo.
1765–8. Erskine, Inst. Law Scot., III. i. § 8. Obligations granted sub modo … are not … suspended until performance by the creditors in them.
1807. Edin. Rev., July, 352. The opinion … might be held sub modo, with perfect impunity.
1843–56. Bouvier, Law Dict. (ed. 6), s.v., A legacy may be given sub modo, that is, subject to a condition or qualification.
9. sub pede sigilli (see quot. 1843–56).
a. 1676. Hale, Hist. Placit. Cor. (1736), I. 171. Certificates, which are usually pleaded sub pede sigilli.
1843–56. Bouvier, Law Dict. (ed. 6), II. 554/2. Sub pede sigilli, under the foot of the seal; under seal.
10. sub plumbo, ‘under lead,’ i.e., under the Pope’s seal.
1522. J. Clerk, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. III. I. 314. The bull of the Kyngs title was made up sub plumbo bifore the Popis deth.
1535. Lett. Suppr. Monast. (Camden), 58. The pope … gave hym licens to kepe an hore, and hath goode writyng sub plumbo to discharge his conscience.
11. sub pœna, under a penalty of.
1466. in Archæologia (1887), L. I. 52. Sub pena of a jd. to the Chirch to be payd.
12. sub rosa [see ROSE sb. 7], ‘under the rose,’ in secret, secretly.
1654. Gayton, Pleas. Notes, III. v. 93. What ever thou and the foule pusse did doe (sub Rosa as they say).
1772. J. Adams, Diary, 20 Dec., Wks. 1850, II. 305. This however, sub rosâ, because the Doctor passes for a master of composition.
a. 1834. Coleridge (in Dixon, Dict. Idiom. Phr.), By-the-by, I wonder some of you lawyers (sub rosa, of course) have not quoted the pithy line of Mandeville.
1844. N. P. Willis, Lady Jane, II. lxxvii. Had he a ‘friend’ sub rosa? No, sir! Fie, sir!
13. sub sigillo [see SEAL sb.2 2 b], under the seal (of confession); in confidence, in secret.
1623. J. Mead, in Crt. & Times Jas. I. (1848), II. 406. The forenamed Mr. Elliot told, sub sigillo, some suspicious passages.
1673. Dryden, Marr. à la Mode, II. 19. I may tell you, as my friend, sub sigillo, &c. this is that very numerical Lady, with whom I am in love.
1777. H. Walpole, Lett. to H. S. Conway, 5 Oct. Remember, one tells one’s creed only to one’s confessor, that is sub sigillo.
14. sub silentio, in silence, without remark being made, without notice being taken.
1617–8. J. Chamberlain, in Crt. & Times Jas. I. (1848), II. 62. All things shut up sub silentio.
1760. Gilbert, Cases in Law & Equity, 267. These are better than many precedents in the office, which have passed sub silentio without being litigated.
1843–56. Bouvier, Law Dict. (ed. 6), II. 555/2. Sometimes passing a thing sub silentio is evidence of consent.
1863. Keble, Life Bp. Wilson, xvi. 511. The Bishop would probably have passed over Mr. Quayle’s second communication sub silentio as he had done the former.
15. sub voce, under the word (so-and-so); abbreviated s.v.
