Is Black's Law Dictionary valid?
Asked by: Clemens Gusikowski PhD | Last update: July 2, 2025Score: 4.4/5 (62 votes)
Black's Law Dictionary is the most frequently used legal dictionary in the United States. Henry Campbell Black (1860–1927) was the author of the first two editions of the dictionary.
Do lawyers use Black's Law Dictionary?
Black's Law Dictionary is the most commonly used law dictionary in the United States. The newly published 12th edition (2024) is available in Westlaw and is also available in print in the Law Library's reference section on the 3rd floor at KF 156 .
Does Black's Law Dictionary hold up in court?
The most cited law book in the world, cited over 250 times by the U.S. Supreme Court since 2000. Completely revised with new material on every page and over 2,500 new entries!
What is controversy in Black's Law Dictionary?
Definition and Citations:
A litigated question; adversary proceeding In a court of law; a civil action or suit, either at law or In equity.
Do courts use the black Law Dictionary?
The use of dictionaries at the Supreme Court is increasingly popular for various reasons. Black's Law Dictionary is the most frequently used U.S. legal dictionary.
Is Black's Law Dictionary a Trusted Authority in UK Law
Is Black's Law Dictionary worth it?
📚 It's not just any dictionary—it's packed with legal terms that aren't in your standard Merriam-Webster. I've relied on it since law school, and now there's a brand-new edition with over 2,800 new terms!
What dictionaries do judges use?
The two most commonly used legal dictionaries are Black's Law Dictionary and Ballentine's Law Dictionary. Print copies of Black's are located on dictionary stands on the fourth and fifth floors. For online access: Black's Law Dictionary (Westlaw)
What is obscene in Black's Law Dictionary?
According to Black's Law Dictionary obscenity means character or quality of being obscene, conduct, tending to corrupt the public merely by its indecency ... lewdness. According to Webster's New International Dictionary, word 'obscene' means disgusting to the senses, usually because of some filthy grotesque.
What is bad faith in Black's Law Dictionary?
Black's Law Dictionary defines “bad faith” as “the opposite of good faith, generally implying or involving actual or constructive fraud, or a design to mislead or deceive another, or a neglect or refusal to fulfill some duty to some contractual obligation not prompted by an honest mistake as to one's rights or duties, ...
Is Black's Law Dictionary a primary source?
Secondary sources explain the law. They include legal dictionaries, legal encyclopedias, legal periodicals, annotations, and treatises. Primary sources are the law. They include codes and cases.
Who wrote Black's Law Dictionary?
The First Edition of Black's Law Dictionary
Henry Campbell Black (1860—1927) was born in Ossining, New York. He was educated at Trinity College in Connecticut, from which he received a bachelor's degree in 1880, a master's degree in 1887, and an LLD in 1916.
What is marriage according to Black's Law Dictionary?
According to Black's Law Dictionary, marriage is the legal union of a couple as spouses. Further, Black's says the essentials of a valid marriage are. parties legally capable of contracting to marry, mutual consent or agreement, and. an actual contracting in the form prescribed by law.
What does monster mean in Black's law?
Definition and Citations:
A prodigious birth; a human birth or offspring not having the shape of mankind, which cannot be heir to any land, albeit it be brought forth in marriage.
Which Black's Law Dictionary is best?
Black's. The greatly expanded 11th edition, with new material on every page, is at once the most practical, comprehensive, scholarly, and authoritative law dictionary ever published.
What is prima facie in Black's Law Dictionary?
Prima facie means at first sight, on the first appearance, on the face of it (Black's Law Dictionary).
What is confidential in Black's Law Dictionary?
Confidentiality (which is about data) involves restricting the flow of. information. The term that applies to something that has the quality of being. confidential, secret or privileged. ( Black's Law Dictionary)
What is God in black law?
For example, Black's Law Dictionary defines Act of God as follows: “An overwhelming, unpreventable event caused exclusively by forces of nature, such as an earthquake, flood, or tornado.
What is liable in black Law Dictionary?
Definition and Citations:
The state of being bound or obliged in law or justice to do, pay, or make good something; legal responsibility. Wood v. Currey, 57 Cal. 209; McElfresh v.
What does mala fide mean in law?
Definition: Mala fides is a Latin term that means "bad faith." It refers to a situation where someone is acting dishonestly or with ill intent. This could include lying, cheating, or intentionally misleading others.
What is the Roth test?
"whether to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interest" 15 the Court rejected the English test announced in Regina v. Hicklin.
What is egregious in blacks Law Dictionary?
Egregious means “[e]xtremely or remarkably bad; flagrant.” Egregious, BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY (11th ed.
What does willful mean in Black's Law Dictionary?
Proceeding from a conscious motion of the will; intending the result which actually conies to pass ; designed; intentional; malicious.
What is Black's Law Dictionary used for?
This is not only a standard reference tool for law, but an important supplement to all high school social studies courses. Also available in a 1992 abridged edition. First published in 1891, Black's is now in a 6th edition that reflects changes in tax, finance, commerce, health care, environmental and criminal law.
Which dictionary does the Supreme Court use?
The Supreme Court has referred to dictionaries in its opinions over 664 times. In recent years, almost every major case and many minor ones find the justices, or their clerks, thumbing through Webster's Third or the Oxford English Dictionary.