ACCORDANT

6 definitions found across Law Mind sources

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ACCORDANTAuthored
The Law Mind • 774 words
Definition
An adjective meaning agreeing or concurring. In legal usage, accordant appears almost exclusively in reported judicial opinions to signal that a judge joins in or agrees with a decision or ruling stated by another. It carries no independent substantive legal content; it is a term of judicial notation, not a term of legal doctrine.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): In agreement; agreeing. Harmonious. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Agreeing; consonant; harmonious; corresponding; conformable — followed by "with" or "to." ("Strictly accordant with true morality.") The gap between common and legal usage here is narrow but worth noting. In ordinary English, accordant describes a state of harmony between things or ideas. In legal sources, it appears as a near-mechanical term of art in judicial reporting — a judge's brief signal that he concurs in the outcome or reasoning just expressed. The word carries no normative or analytical weight in the legal context; its entire function is notational.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering accordant in older reported cases should read it as a concurrence marker, not a substantive legal term. It appears in early English and colonial-era American case reporting as a shorthand notation beside a judge's name — "Holt, C.J., accordant" — to indicate agreement with the ruling or proposition just stated. This is functionally analogous to "concurring" in modern judicial opinions, though far more compressed. The practical trap for corpus researchers: accordant can appear mid-paragraph in older reports without any typographical signal that a shift from legal reasoning to judicial notation has occurred. A reader skimming for doctrine may misread it as a characterization of facts or legal standards rather than recognizing it as a judge's assent marker. Because the term is purely notational, it will not appear in statutes, pleadings, or treatises on legal doctrine. Its corpus footprint is almost entirely confined to law reports, digests, and case reporters from the English common law tradition, particularly seventeenth and eighteenth century sources. Researchers working in that period should be fluent in the broader vocabulary of judicial notation — accord, accordant, dubitante, dissente, contra — to correctly parse the alignment of judicial opinion in multi-judge courts. No meaningful jurisdictional variation exists because the term carries no substantive legal content. It does not appear in modern American judicial opinions, having been displaced by the formal concurrence.
Historical Dictionary Support
All three source dictionaries agree precisely: accordant means "agreeing; concurring," and each illustrates the term with identical or near-identical citations from early English reports — Hardres 93 and 6 Modern 298–299. The consistency across Black's (1st and 2nd editions) and Burrill reflects that no interpretive controversy surrounded this term; it was simply catalogued for the benefit of readers encountering it in old reports. Burrill's entry is notable for immediately transitioning from accordant to a full entry on ACCOUNT, suggesting that accordant was treated as a minor notation term requiring only brief acknowledgment before moving to substantive doctrine. None of the historical dictionaries attempt to distinguish accordant from the shorter form accord as it appears in judicial reports, though both forms appear in the same illustrative citations. The distinction, to the extent one exists, appears to be stylistic rather than semantic — accord and accordant are used interchangeably in the reported cases cited. What the historical dictionaries do not address: they give no guidance on how to weight an accordant notation when the judge's agreement may be limited to the outcome rather than the full reasoning. Modern readers accustomed to the distinction between a full concurrence and a concurrence in the judgment only will find no equivalent nuance in the old notation.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Discharge — Accord and Satisfaction (The Law Mind Contracts & Commercial Law Encyclopedia) Note: The encyclopedia entry addresses accord as a contractual mechanism — an agreement to accept substitute performance in satisfaction of an existing obligation. That is a distinct concept from accordant as a judicial notation term. Researchers should not conflate the two. The cross-reference is included because corpus searches on "accord" will surface both contexts, and the encyclopedia entry provides essential grounding for the contractual usage.
Related Terms
Accord (judicial notation) — the shortened form appearing in the same case reports Accord and Satisfaction — the contractual doctrine; distinct conceptoverlapping search vocabulary Concurrence — the modern equivalent of accordant in judicial opinion practice Dubitante — contrasting notation indicating a judge's doubt without full dissent Contra — notation indicating disagreement; the functional opposite of accordant in old reports
ACCORDANTmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
Fr. and Eng. Agree- ing; concurring. "Baron Parker, accord- ant," Hardr. 93; "Holt, C. J., accordant,” 6 Mod. 299; "Powys, J., accord," "Powell, J., accord," Id. 298.
ACCORDANTmain
Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867
Fr. & Eng. Agreeing; concurring. "Baron Parker, accordant." Hardr. 93. "Holt, C. J. accordant." 6 Mod. 298, 299. Powys, J. accord." "Powell, J. accord." Id. ib. ACCOUNT, Accompt. [L. Lat. compotus, computus, from computare, to account.] In practice. A writ, or action at common law, (sometimes called account render,) which lies against a person who by reason of his office, or business, as bailiff, receiver, or guardian, ought to render an account to another, but refuses to do so. F. N. B. 116. P. Q. Co. Litt. 172. The writ in this action (which is termed in the old books, breve de computo, or compoto,) commands the defendant to render a reasonable account (rationabile computum, or rationabilem compotum,) to the plaintiff, or show the court good cause to the contrary. Fleta, lib. 2, c. 70. Reg. Orig. 135. F. N. B. 116, 117. If the plaintiff succeeds, there * **The action of account was formerly the common remedy in mercantile transactions, and in almost all cases where there were dealings, and an unliquidated demand. 3 Reeves' Hist. Eng. Law, 77. In modern practice it has fallen into great disuse, in consequence of the substitution of the action of assumpsit, and the frequent resort to a court of equity. 3 Bl. Com. 163. 1 Tidd's Pr. 1, 2. 1 Archb. N. Prius, 196, 197. It seems, however, to have always been regarded with favor by the English judges, and in the case of Godfrey v. Saunders, in the C. B., where an action of this kind was brought, Lord C. J. Wilmot expressed his satisfaction at seeing it revived. 3 Wils. 94, 117. Latterly it has been revived in England to a considerable extent, in consequence of a decision of the court of exchequer, in relation to the exception of merchants' accounts in the statute of limitations. 8 Mees. & W. 769. Smith on Contracts, 301, 302, 321, and notes. It is retained in the practice of some of the United States, but its form has been modified, and, in general, it is rarely resorted to: in some of the states it has been expressly abolished. 4 Kent's Com. 359, note. 1 Story's Eq. Jur. § 442, and note. Rev. Stat. of N. Jersey, 46. Rev. Stat. of Vermont, 219, c. 36. 25 Vermont R. 340. Rev. Stat. of Mass. c. 118, § 43. Purdon's Digest, Account. See United States Digest, Account render.
ACCORDANTmain
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910
Fr... and Eng. Agreeing; coneurring. “Baron Parker, accordant.” Wardr. 93; “Holt, C. J... accordant.” 6 Mod. 299; “Powys, J., accord,” “Powell, J., accord,” Id. 298.
ACCORDANTa.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
Agreeing; consonant; harmonious; corresponding; conformable; -- followed by with or to. Strictly accordant with true morality. Darwin. And now his voice accordant to the string. Coldsmith.
accordantadj
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
In agreement; agreeing. | Harmonious.

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