Definition
A just and true valuation of property made under judicial or legislative authority. Appraisement refers to the formal process of fixing the value of property by one or more persons appointed or authorized for that purpose — as distinguished from informal or market-based estimates of worth.
Appraisement arises in several recurring legal contexts:
(1) Decedents' estates. When a person dies intestate, the personal property of the estate is subject to appraisement, typically accompanied by an inventory. The valuation establishes the estate's value for purposes of administration, creditor claims, and distribution to heirs.
(2) Insolvency proceedings. The property of insolvent debtors is appraised to establish what is available for distribution among creditors.
(3) Eminent domain and public taking. When real or personal property is taken for public use, appraisement determines the compensation owed to the owner.
(4) Customs and import duties. A writ or commission of appraisement may direct designated persons to ascertain and report the value of goods subject to import duties — particularly where the value of dutiable goods is disputed between an importer and the government, or where smuggling is alleged.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): The act of appraising.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): The act of setting the value; valuation by an appraiser; estimation of worth.
The common usage is not wrong, but it is thin. Ordinary usage treats appraisement and appraisal as interchangeable informal estimates of value — what a homebuyer gets before closing, or what an insurance adjuster produces after a loss. The legal term carries something the common usage omits: authority. Appraisement in law is not merely an expert's opinion of value; it is a valuation made pursuant to judicial appointment, legislative mandate, or official commission, with legal consequences attached to the result.
Common Confusion
Appraisement and appraisal are used interchangeably in modern practice and in many modern statutes, but the historical legal literature treats appraisement as the more formal term — specifically connoting official or court-directed valuation. Researchers will encounter appraisement almost exclusively in older materials; modern sources, including contemporary statutes on eminent domain, estate administration, and dissenters' rights, predominantly use appraisal. The substance is the same; the terminology is a period marker. Do not assume that a search for one term in historical sources will surface documents using the other.
Why It Matters in Research
Terminology shift is the central research trap here. Sources before roughly the mid-twentieth century use appraisement where modern sources use appraisal. A researcher working in historical probate records, customs cases, or condemnation proceedings must search both terms. Index-based searches in older reporters and digests will catalog these cases under appraisement; modern databases and statutes will use appraisal. Failing to account for both will produce incomplete results.
The customs context deserves particular attention. Rapalje & Lawrence points to a distinct procedural instrument — the writ or commission of appraisement — used in federal customs disputes. This is a specialized procedural mechanism with its own body of practice that does not map cleanly onto the more familiar probate or eminent domain appraisement. Researchers tracing customs valuation disputes in nineteenth-century federal practice should treat this as a separate research thread.
The connection to modern appraisal rights (dissenters' rights) in corporate law is conceptual rather than direct. Modern shareholder appraisal statutes derive from the same underlying idea — judicially supervised valuation as a remedy — but the corporate law doctrine developed on its own track. Do not assume historical appraisement doctrine translates directly into the corporate context.
In estate practice, appraisement records are primary sources for asset valuation at death. These documents survive in probate court files and are frequently consulted in historical and genealogical research as well as legal research. The inventory and appraisement together constitute the core evidentiary record of an estate's composition.
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical sources agree on the core definition without meaningful divergence: appraisement is an official, authoritative valuation of property. Black's (both editions), Bouvier's, Burrill's, and Rapalje & Lawrence all define it substantially the same way.
Bouvier's is the most useful for context, cataloging the three primary occasions for appraisement — intestate estates, insolvents, and public takings — in a way that maps directly onto the legal occasions a researcher is likely to encounter. Burrill's adds procedural texture, emphasizing that appraisement is a process carried out by persons appointed for the purpose and is accompanied by an inventory.
Rapalje & Lawrence is distinctive in flagging the customs dimension — the writ or commission of appraisement as a specific instrument in import duty disputes — which the other dictionaries treat only in passing or omit. This is the historical source most useful for researchers working in federal customs practice.
None of the historical sources address the corporate law application, which postdates them. The modern appraisal rights doctrine in corporate law has no direct analogue in these dictionaries.
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