Definition
To fix, set, or state the value of property, usually in writing, by a person with conferred authority to do so. In legal usage, appraise means more than casual estimation: it denotes a formal or official valuation act, typically performed by an authorized or qualified person (an appraiser) and documented in an appraisal report. The term applies across a range of legal contexts — probate (valuing a decedent's personal property), real estate transactions (establishing market value for lending or tax purposes), insurance (determining loss or replacement value), eminent domain (quantifying just compensation), and corporate law (establishing the fair value of dissenting shareholders' interests).
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To determine the value or worth of something, particularly as a person appointed for this purpose; also, to consider comprehensively or judge someone's performance (as in a workplace review).
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To set a value; to estimate the worth of, particularly by persons appointed for the purpose. Also, more loosely, to estimate or conjecture, and (obsolete) to praise or commend.
The gap between common and legal meaning lies in authority and formality. In everyday speech, anyone can "appraise" a situation or offer. In law, to appraise implies a recognized or conferred authority to act — a qualification, appointment, or statutory grant. The legal act carries evidentiary and procedural weight that a casual estimate does not.
Common Confusion
APPRAISE vs. APPRISE: These are distinct words frequently confused in legal drafting. To appraise is to value property. To apprise is to inform or notify. A letter appraising a client of settlement options is notifying them; a letter appraising their property is valuing it. Confusion in transactional documents and correspondence is common and occasionally material.
APPRAISE vs. ASSESS: In tax law, assess often carries a distinct statutory meaning — the formal government determination of taxable value. Appraise is the broader term and may inform an assessment, but the two are not synonymous in contexts where assessment triggers a legal obligation or right of appeal.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encounter appraise and its noun forms (appraisal, appraisement, apprizal) across several distinct legal domains, and the relevant legal framework differs significantly by context.
In probate research, historical sources use appraisement frequently. Probate inventories and estate proceedings required formal appraisement of a decedent's goods — a statutory function in most jurisdictions. When reading 19th-century case law or statutes, expect appraisement rather than appraisal as the operative term.
In corporate law, appraisal has acquired a specialized procedural meaning: the right of dissenting shareholders to have a court determine the fair value of their shares when a merger or similar transaction is approved over their objection. This is a statutory remedy — often called appraisal rights or dissenters' rights — and the word appraisal in this context refers to a judicial proceeding, not a private valuation. Researchers conflating the general act of valuation with this statutory right will miss the procedural significance.
In real estate transactions, appraisal as a financing contingency gives a buyer the right to exit a contract if a lender's appraisal falls below the purchase price. The term here operates as a condition precedent with contractual force. Historical real estate sources may use appraisement or the older apprizal for similar functions.
In insurance law, many policies include an appraisal clause — a dispute resolution mechanism triggered when insurer and insured disagree on loss value. This is distinct from an independent appraisal obtained before a claim.
Researchers should also note that authorized is a load-bearing word in historical definitions. Bouvier and Rapalje both emphasize "by virtue of a conferred authority." This element becomes legally significant in challenges to the admissibility or binding effect of an appraisal.
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries are in close agreement on the core definition: to fix or state the value of a thing, usually in writing, by authorized persons. Black's (both editions), Bouvier, Rapalje & Lawrence, and Burrill all converge on this formula with minimal variation. Burrill and Rapalje trace the root explicitly to Latin pretium (price, value), which reflects how firmly the term was understood as a price-setting act rather than mere estimation.
Anderson's Dictionary of Law adds a useful dimension by cataloging the noun forms — appraisement, appraisal, and apprizal — and noting their functional equivalence, while flagging that apprizal was in use in some jurisdictions. Anderson also gestures toward the probate context ("goods of a deceased") as a primary site of appraisement proceedings, which aligns with the term's heavy use in 19th-century estate law.
What the historical sources do not address is the corporate appraisal right, which is a 20th-century statutory development, and the real estate financing appraisal contingency, which emerged with modern mortgage lending. Researchers relying solely on historical dictionaries for these contexts will find the entries descriptively accurate but doctrinally incomplete.
Jurisdictional Note
Corporate appraisal rights vary significantly by state, including which transactions trigger the right, the valuation standard applied, and whether shareholders may recover interest or attorneys' fees. Delaware's appraisal statute is the most litigated and most frequently cited, but researchers should not assume it represents the default rule in other jurisdictions.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Shareholders — Appraisal Rights (Dissenters' Rights) (Law Mind Business Organizations & Corporate Law Encyclopedia)
Contingencies — Financing, Inspection, Appraisal, and Title Contingencies (Law Mind Real Estate Transactions & Construction Encyclopedia)