Definition
To join or unite one thing to another so as to increase the number, augment the quantity, enlarge the magnitude, or form a single aggregate. In legal usage, "add" functions primarily as an operative verb in instruments, pleadings, statutes, and contracts—directing that something be incorporated into an existing whole. The term carries no technical meaning unique to law; its legal force derives entirely from context. In customs and trade law, to "add" a value component means to include it in the calculation of dutiable value, a usage with specific statutory implications distinct from the ordinary arithmetic sense.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): An act or instance of adding; also used colloquially for adding a song to a playlist or an additional enemy joining a fight in gaming contexts.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To join or unite as one thing to another so as to increase number, augment quantity, or enlarge magnitude; also, to sum up mentally.
The legal and common meanings are closely aligned when "add" functions as a plain operative verb. The gap appears in customs and commercial law, where "add" has a technical, statute-driven meaning tied to valuation methodology—determining what components must be included in the dutiable or assessed value of goods—that the ordinary arithmetic sense does not capture.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers will rarely look up "add" as a standalone legal concept, but the term appears as an operative word in instruments and documents where its precise scope matters: amendments that "add" provisions, contracts that "add" parties, statutes that "add" duties or penalties. In customs law, the word carried significant technical weight in early American tariff administration—what was or was not "added" to the declared value of imported goods determined tax liability. Burrill's entry gestures toward this usage in the context of import valuation under the Act of March 1, 1823. Researchers working with antebellum trade records, customs disputes, or tariff litigation should treat "add" as a term of art in that context rather than a neutral arithmetic instruction.
Bouvier's cross-reference to ADDICERE (Latin: to condemn; to transfer goods of a deceased debtor to one assuming his liabilities) is important: though placed adjacent to "add" by alphabetical accident, addicere is a distinct civil-law term. Researchers using Latin-heavy historical sources should not conflate the two.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier and Burrill agree on the core operative meaning: to join or unite so as to form an aggregate. Bouvier's definition is workmanlike and general, relying on the American and English Encyclopaedia of Law for support. Burrill's entry is more valuable for corpus researchers because it situates "add" within the specific problem of customs valuation—noting that the "actual value" of an article at the place of exportation is not always what is "added" for duty purposes under early federal tariff statutes. Neither dictionary develops "add" as a term carrying independent legal doctrine. Both sources are more useful as confirmation that the word was used in its plain sense in legal instruments, with the customs-valuation context being the primary exception worth tracking.