immediatus

Immediatus is a Latin adjective that means direct, immediate, or without mediation. The form immediatus (masculine), immediata (feminine), and immediatum (neuter) appears in classical and medieval Latin texts to describe actions, relationships, or perceptions that occur without an intermediary. The term is built from the prefix im- with mediatus (mediated), deriving from medius, “middle,” to express the sense of being not mediated.

In civil and canon law, immediatus is used to characterize direct authority or obligation. Phrases describing direct jurisdiction, such as jurisdictio immediata, indicate authority exercised without an intermediate court or intermediary office. In ecclesiastical administration, some entities or duties were described as under immediate jurisdiction of a higher authority rather than a metropolitan see, with the Latin vocabulary reflecting that direct relationship. The exact usage varies by author and period, but the core idea remains: something that operates or is owed directly to a higher authority, without an intervening middle layer.

In philosophy and theology, discussions of immediacy frequently concern knowledge or experience that is not mediated by other concepts or instruments. Latin writers might speak of cognitio immediata or experientia immediata to denote direct acquaintance with a thing, though this usage is more common in scholarly translations than in everyday language.

Modern usage of immediatus is largely confined to the study of Latin sources and historical texts. In English-language scholarship, the general sense is typically conveyed by immediacy or directness, while immediatus appears primarily within retained Latin phrases. See also immediacy, directness, and mediated knowledge.