modus

Noun

1. The arrangement of, or mode of expressing, the terms of a contract or conveyance.
2. A qualification involving the idea of variation or departure from some general rule or form, in the way of either restriction or enlargement, according to the circumstances of the case, as in the will of a donor, an agreement between parties, etc.
3. A fixed compensation or equivalent given instead of payment of tithes in kind, expressed in full by the phrase modus decimandi.
   • To make a good and sufficient modus, the following rules must be observed - 1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press,...
   • When, instead either of a certain portion of the produce of land, or of the price of a certain portion, a certain sum of money is to be paid in full compensation for all tax or tythe; the tax becomes, in this case,...
   • They, from time immemorial, had paid a modus, or composition. - 1829, Walter Savage Landor, “Duke de Richelieu, Sir Firebrace Cotes, Lady Glengrin. and Mr. Normanby”, in Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and...