Also known as: eiusdem negotii · same transaction · instrumenta ejusdem negotii
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A Latin maxim indicating that certain acts, writings, or claims form part of a single transaction or occurrence. The phrase identifies elements that share a common factual nucleus so that they receive unified legal treatment under applicable rules of joinder, interpretation, priority, or jurisdiction.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Eugene Ellsworth and Ezra Eastman each purchased the same model of industrial equipment from Emerald Enterprises. Both suffered identical malfunctions traced to a single manufacturing defect that occurred during one production run. Their complaints assert rights to relief arising from that shared production event, allowing joinder under the governing standard.
Ewan Eckhart signed a purchase agreement with Echo Systems for custom software. A follow-up letter from Echo Systems clarified delivery dates and payment terms. A court reads the letter together with the signed agreement because both documents address the identical software acquisition.
Emmett Egan bought a warehouse from Elite Dynamics and simultaneously borrowed funds from Everest Holdings to complete the purchase. The loan proceeds paid the seller at closing. The mortgage qualifies for special priority because the funds and the conveyance occurred as one integrated acquisition.
Esme Ellington sued in federal court alleging a federal securities violation arising from a stock sale. She also asserted a state-law breach claim against the same defendants for conduct during that sale. The state claim shares the operative facts of the federal claim, so the court may exercise discretion to hear both together.
Elise Everly signed a letter agreeing to sell land to Emerald Enterprises. An unsigned attachment listed the precise parcel and price. The signed letter and attachment together satisfy the writing requirement because they plainly concern the identical land sale.
Echo Systems released its senior mortgage on a factory and immediately recorded a new mortgage with adjusted terms as part of refinancing the same loan. The new mortgage keeps the original priority position because the release and replacement formed one continuous financing transaction.
When one writing is signed and the circumstances show that additional writings relate to the identical transaction, the documents may be read together as a sufficient memorandum. The signed writing need not expressly reference the others if the facts demonstrate they address the same deal.
Plaintiffs may join when their asserted rights to relief arise out of the same transaction or occurrence. The shared factual nucleus supplies the required connection even if the plaintiffs seek relief jointly, severally, or in the alternative.
…as it would be if tried in a State court. The nub of the policy that underlies Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins is that for the same transaction the accident of a suit by a non-resident litigant in a federal court instead of in a State court a block away, should not lead to a substantially different result. And so, putting to one…
…as it would be if tried in a State court. The nub of the policy that underlies Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins is that for the same transaction
…willful tearing, etc., of mail bags, with intent to rob. The court (p. 628) stated the question to be, “ whether one who, in the same transaction
…a creditor files a claim, the referee is empowered to hear and decide a counterclaim against that creditor arising out of the
…the Court notes, we have held that an acquittal in a criminal case does not bar subsequent civil forfeiture actions for the same transaction
A mortgage receives purchase money status to the extent loan proceeds are used to acquire title when the mortgage is granted as part of the same transaction in which title passes. The timing and purpose of the funds within that single closing control the classification.
A federal court may hear a state claim when it and the federal claim derive from a common nucleus of operative fact such that a plaintiff would ordinarily try them in one proceeding. The claims must arise from the same transaction or occurrence.
If the release of the senior mortgage and the recording of the replacement occur as part of the same transaction, the new mortgage retains the predecessor's priority except to the extent a change materially prejudices junior interests or recording-act protections intervene.