Qu' Est Eadem - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition qu-est-eadem

Definition :

Qu' est eadem (which is the same). In trespass and other actions, when the plea necessarily stated the trespass to have been committed at some other time, place, etc., than that laid in the declaration, it was usual, before the conclusion of the plea, to allege, that the supposed trespasses mentioned in the plea were the same as those whereof the plaintiff had complained. This allegation was usually termed qu' est eadem. It was equivalent to a traverse of the time and place named in the declaration, 1 Chit. Pleading, 581.

It means which is the same. This phrase was used by a defendant in a trespass action to show that the trespass the defendant was justified in committing was the same as that alleged in the plaintiff's pleading, that is, the plaintiff gave the defendant permission to enter, and so the defendant entered the property, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1252.