CENT

6 definitions found across Law Mind sources

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CENTAuthored
The Law Mind • 769 words
Definition
The cent is the smallest denomination of United States currency, equal to one one-hundredth of a dollar. As a legal unit of account, it establishes the base increment for monetary obligations, judgments, fines, and statutory minimums. The term appears in legal contexts primarily as a unit of measure rather than as a substantive legal concept in its own right.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the main unit of currency in many countries, symbolized by ¢; also used colloquially to mean any small sum of money. In music theory, a cent is one hundredth of a semitone, a wholly unrelated technical meaning. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): A United States coin, the hundredth part of a dollar, formerly made of copper, now of copper, tin, and zinc; also, a hundred, as in the phrase "ten per cent." The legal meaning tracks the common monetary meaning closely, with no significant gap. The legal relevance of the cent lies in its role as the atomic unit of American monetary denomination — courts and statutes cannot award or impose amounts smaller than one cent, and judgment arithmetic rounds to this unit. The informal usage meaning "a small or trivial amount" (as in "not worth a cent") occasionally appears in older opinions as rhetorical flourish but carries no legal significance.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encounter "cent" in legal sources in three practical contexts. First, statutory minimum penalties and fee schedules expressed in cents appear in early federal and state legislation, particularly revenue, customs, and postal statutes of the nineteenth century. When reading these materials, be alert to the distinction between the pre-1857 large copper cent and the post-1857 smaller copper-nickel cent: the physical specifications changed by act of Congress on February 21, 1857. Rapalje & Lawrence notes this transition explicitly, citing 11 U.S. Stat. at L. 163–164. A statute drafted before 1857 referencing the "cent" by weight or composition is describing a different physical object than post-1857 usage. Second, "cent" appears as a component of compound legal terms — "per cent," "per centum," and "percent" — that carry independent significance in interest calculations, usury statutes, tax rates, and damage formulas. These compound forms are the more legally active usage; see RELATED TERMS below. Third, in constitutional and judicial arithmetic contexts, the cent functions as a threshold. Nominal damages awards of one cent have appeared in civil rights and contract litigation as judicial signals of technical liability without compensable harm. Researchers searching for such cases should not assume that one-cent judgments are editorial errors in historical reporters. Anderson's entry for CENT redirects readers to COIN and then pivots, with no apparent connection, to a discussion of debtor insolvency and reasonable belief — a likely indexing error in that edition. Researchers using Anderson's should not treat this adjacent text as substantively related to the monetary definition.
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries agree on the core definition: the cent is the least valuable United States coin, equal to one-hundredth of a dollar. Black's (1st and 2nd editions) and Rapalje & Lawrence are essentially identical in substance, differing only in Rapalje's additional detail about the 1857 statutory specification and the coin's metallic composition (88% copper, 12% nickel, weighing 72 grains). Neither edition of Black's provides that statutory grounding explicitly, making Rapalje the more useful source for researchers who need to connect the definition to a specific legislative act. None of the historical dictionaries address the cent's function as a unit of account in judgment arithmetic, nor do they note its use in nominal damages doctrine — an omission that reflects the dictionaries' tendency to treat the cent as a physical object (a coin) rather than as a legal unit of measure. The modern researcher should supplement these entries with statutory and case law sources for any functional legal question beyond coin identification.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Currency and Legal Tender; Coinage Acts of the United States.
Related Terms
COIN — parent category; see Anderson's cross-reference DOLLAR — the base unit of which the cent is a subdivision PER CENT / PER CENTUM — the legally operative compound form in interesttaxand rate calculations LEGAL TENDER — the broader legal status governing what currency must be accepted in satisfaction of monetary obligations NOMINAL DAMAGES — context in which one-cent awards carry legal significance MILL — the one-tenth-of-a-cent unit used in tax rate calculationsa denomination below the cent
CENTmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
A coin of the United States, the least in value of those now minted. It is the one-hundredth part of a dollar. Its weight is 72 gr., and it is composed of copper and nickel in the ratio of 88 to 12.
CENTmain
Rapalje & Lawrence • 1888
-LATIN: centum, one hundred. The least in value of American coins, being the one-hundredth part of a dollar. It weighs seventy-two grains, and consists of copper and nickel, the former eightyeight per centum and the latter twelve. (11) U. S. Stat. at L. 163, 164.) This is the cent provided by the act of congress of February 21st, 1857, the one in use previous to that time was composed wholly of copper, and was much larger and heavier than the one in present use.
CENTcrossref
Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890
See COIN. A man may have grounds of suspicion that his debtor is in failing circumstances and yet have no cause for a well-founded "belief" of the fact. To make mere suspicion a ground of nullity would render business transactions too insecure. "A reasonable cause to believe" a debtor insolvent is a different matter.2 2. "Suspicions" is also applied to cases in which a party fails or omits to produce evidence within his exclusive possession, and which, being introduced, would have changed the result, presumably against his interest. 3. The words are likewise applied to the case of a person who is believed to have committed a crime, or whose actions fairly indicate an intention to commit crime. Suspicious character. A person suspected of intending to commit, in the present or near future, some act of criminal misbehavior. The grounds for the suspicion appearing reasonable to a committing magistrate, such person may be required to find security for keeping the peace, and for good behavior.3 A justice of the peace may issue a warant to apprehend a person suspected of felony, though the suspicion originates with the person who prays the warrant; because the justice is competent to judge of the probability of the suspicion. Where a high crime has been committed, very stringent proof is not required that there was ground for a reasonable belief that a suspected party was guilty. Peace officers may arrest upon suspicion of felony. A high officer, as, the sheriff, may arrest a person merely suspected of a capital offense. Yet suspicion is not belief; probable cause for suspicion by a prudent and reasonable man that a person committed a high crime may not be sufficient to induce him to believe the person guilty. 1 Fox v. Bank of Kansas City, 30 Kan. 446 (1883), cases, Brewer, J.; Swift v. Smith, 102 U. S. 444 (1890), cases, Strong, J. 2 Grant v. First Nat. Bank of Monmouth, 97 U. S. 81 (1877). $4 Bl. Com. 252. 4 Bl. Com. 290. • McCarthy v. DeArmit, 99 Pa. 70 (1881), cases. McCarthy, as mayor of Pittsburgh, Pa., at the time of
CENTn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
A hundred; as, ten per cent, the proportion of ten parts in a hundred. A United States coin, the hundredth part of a dollar, formerly made of copper, now of copper, tin, and zinc. An old game at cards, supposed to be like piquet; -- so called because 100 points won the game. Nares.
centnoun
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.
A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the main unit of currency in many countries. Symbol: ¢. | A small sum of money. | A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the euro. | A coin having face value of one cent (in either of the above senses). | A hundredth of a semitone or half step. | A unit of reactivity equal to one hundredth of a dollar. | Abbreviation of century. | Abbreviation of Latincentum (“one hundred”). | Abbreviation of centigrade. | Abbreviation of center.

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