Definition
A connective word used in legal instruments—most commonly wills and deeds—to introduce an additional, independent provision. In testamentary documents, "also" functions as a structural marker signaling the beginning of a new and separate devise or bequest, operating much like "item" in older will-drafting practice. It means "in addition" or "moreover," but courts have consistently distinguished it from "in like manner," which carries the further implication that the new provision mirrors a preceding one in its terms or operation.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "and in addition."
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "In like manner; likewise" (now obsolete in this sense); more broadly, "in addition; besides; as well; further; too."
The gap matters here because Webster's 1913 records "in like manner; likewise" as a then-recognized meaning of "also." In legal construction, courts have specifically rejected that reading. A testator's use of "also" does not instruct that a subsequent bequest be administered on the same terms as a prior one. Researchers encountering "also" in a historical will should not assume it signals parallel treatment—the word marks a new provision, not a replicated one.
Common Confusion
"Also" is sometimes read as equivalent to "in like manner" or "likewise," particularly by non-lawyers applying the Webster's 1913 sense. Courts have explicitly refused this construction in will interpretation. The distinction is consequential: "in like manner" can import the conditions, restrictions, or manner of enjoyment attached to a prior bequest into the subsequent one; "also" does not. Conflating the two can alter an entire distributive scheme.
Why It Matters in Research
The legal significance of "also" is almost entirely confined to will construction and, to a lesser extent, deed interpretation. Researchers working in probate records, chancery proceedings, or will contest litigation—especially pre-twentieth century materials—will encounter "also" used as a structural divider between devises. Its meaning in that context is fixed and narrow: it begins something new, nothing more.
The trap in historical sources is the period overlap with the "in like manner" sense documented in general dictionaries. Nineteenth-century courts were actively drawing the line between these readings, and the cases cited by Bouvier (4 Rawle 68–70) and Anderson reflect a settled common law rule that "also" carries no implicative force about how the new provision should operate relative to its predecessor. Researchers relying on a general dictionary contemporary with a disputed document should cross-check against the legal dictionary standard, which diverges from lay usage on precisely this point.
There is no significant evolution of this term's legal meaning across the corpus—it is stable and narrow. The more useful research task is recognizing when "also" appears in a will being litigated and tracing how courts in the relevant jurisdiction applied the item/moreover gloss versus any attempt by a party to import the "in like manner" reading.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier and Anderson are in full agreement: "also" in wills most frequently points out the beginning of a new devise or bequest, imports no more than "item," may mean "moreover," but not "in like manner." The formulation is nearly identical across both dictionaries, suggesting a settled consensus by the time both works appeared.
Bouvier adds the Kentucky citation (6 B. Mon. 80) for the "likewise or in the same manner" sense but presents it as a secondary or alternative usage, not the prevailing legal standard. Researchers should treat that citation cautiously—it does not overturn the primary rule but reflects that some courts, in some factual contexts, may have read "also" more expansively. The weight of authority runs the other way.
Neither dictionary addresses "also" in non-testamentary instruments, contracts, or statutes—an absence that reflects the term's near-exclusive legal significance in the will-drafting context. For statutory interpretation, "also" functions as an ordinary additive conjunction and receives no special legal meaning beyond its plain-language sense.
Jurisdictional Note
The rule that "also" means "item" or "moreover" but not "in like manner" reflects general common law will construction principles and is not limited to a single American jurisdiction. Bouvier's citation to a Kentucky case and a Pennsylvania reporter (Rawle) suggests it was applied consistently across at least early American jurisdictions. No significant modern jurisdictional split has emerged on this narrow point.