COMFORT - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

COMFORTAuthored

The Law Mind • 1047 words

Definition

COMFORT has two distinct legal uses, operating in largely separate doctrinal contexts.

1. DAMAGES (loss of comfort): In tort and wrongful death law, "comfort" describes a compensable relational benefit — the solace, society, and emotional support that a person derives from a close relationship, typically a spouse, parent, or child. Loss of comfort is a head of damages available to surviving family members when that relationship is destroyed or impaired by a defendant's wrongful act. It is closely allied with loss of consortium and loss of society, though courts and statutes use these terms with varying precision. The harm is non-economic: it cannot be reduced to wages or medical bills, but it is legally cognizable as a real loss.

2. AID AND COMFORT (treason): The phrase "aid and comfort" appears in the constitutional and statutory law of treason. To give "aid and comfort" to an enemy is one of the two overt acts that constitute treason under Article III, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution. Here "comfort" carries its older sense of strengthening or fortifying — providing material or moral support to an enemy of the state. The phrase is treated as a unit; "comfort" alone rarely appears in treason doctrine without "aid."

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Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To relieve the distress or suffering of; to provide comfort to; to make strong or fortify; to assist or help.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To make strong; to invigorate; to fortify; to corroborate. Also: to impart strength and hope to; to encourage; to relieve; to console; to cheer.

The gap matters in both legal contexts. In damages law, the legal meaning of "comfort" tracks the modern common meaning — it is about emotional solace and relief — but the law packages it as a discrete compensable interest, not merely a feeling. In treason law, the legal meaning tracks the older, now largely obsolete sense: to strengthen or give material support. A modern reader encountering "aid and comfort" may instinctively read it as emotional consolation; the legal and historical meaning is the opposite — active assistance that fortifies an enemy's capacity.

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Common Confusion

"Comfort," "consortium," and "society" are frequently used interchangeably in case law and statutes, but they are not always identical. Loss of consortium is the broadest term and typically encompasses loss of comfort, companionship, affection, and sexual relations. Loss of society is often used in parent-child contexts where the sexual element is absent. Loss of comfort may appear as a standalone item or as a component within consortium. Researchers should not assume that a jurisdiction's use of one term includes or excludes another without examining how that jurisdiction's pattern jury instructions and appellate decisions define the boundaries. The Anderson source reflects this imprecision — "comfort" appears as part of a cluster of relational and dependency-based loss concepts rather than as a sharply bounded term of art.

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Why It Matters in Research

The term is a research trap because it appears in two completely disconnected doctrinal areas — tort damages and constitutional treason law — and historical sources often address neither cleanly.

In damages research: Pre-20th-century sources may not treat loss of comfort as a freestanding element at all, particularly outside of wrongful death statutes. Many early wrongful death acts limited recovery to economic loss, and "comfort" as a compensable non-economic item is largely a 20th-century development. If you are researching historical damage caps or wrongful death recoveries, absence of "comfort" in older sources reflects the law's limits, not the term's limits.

In treason research: The constitutional phrase "aid and comfort" is fixed text, but the meaning of "comfort" within it has been interpreted by courts in the context of specific overt acts. Researchers should go directly to the constitutional provision and its judicial gloss rather than relying on dictionary definitions, which will not capture how courts have drawn the line between protected speech and actionable comfort to an enemy.

In the Law Mind corpus: Anderson's entry reflects the damages context — "whatever is necessary to give security from want, and furnish reasonable" relief — suggesting comfort as a standard-of-living and dependency concept adjacent to support and maintenance. This is useful for 19th-century domestic relations and probate research but may not map onto modern tort damages vocabulary.

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Historical Dictionary Support

Anderson's Dictionary of Law treats "comfort" in the context of what a dependent is owed — security from want and reasonable provision — which places it closer to the law of maintenance, support, and necessaries than to modern tort damages. This is consistent with the 19th-century tendency to frame family-law obligations in terms of tangible provision rather than non-economic emotional loss. The entry does not address loss of comfort as a damages element in wrongful death or personal injury, reflecting that tort law had not yet developed this head of damages as a standard item.

Webster's 1913 preserves both senses that matter legally: the modern sense (to relieve, console) and the archaic sense (to strengthen, fortify, corroborate). The archaic sense is the operative one in treason law. The 1913 entry's flagging of the fortify/corroborate meaning as partially obsolete in common usage is itself historically informative — it explains why modern readers misread the constitutional phrase.

No major historical legal dictionary treats "comfort" as a primary headword for tort damages. Researchers should treat its appearance in older sources as incidental to broader entries on consortium, damages, or necessaries.

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Jurisdictional Note

Recovery for loss of comfort in wrongful death and personal injury actions varies considerably by statute. Some states enumerate it as a distinct element; others subsume it within consortium or society. A minority of jurisdictions limit non-economic relational damages to spouses, excluding parent-child claims. Statutory text controls — common-law labels are unreliable guides to what a particular jurisdiction actually permits.

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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

See Law Mind Encyclopedia — Damages (non-economic damages, loss of consortium)
See Law Mind Encyclopedia — Treason (aid and comfort; overt act requirement)

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COMFORTmain

Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890

latent in the structure of all regular pleadings in confession and avoidance is "implied color," to distinguish it from the kind which, in instances, is formally inserted in the pleading, and known as "express color." To the latter, the term usually applies.1 Colore officii. By color of office. See COLOR, 2, Of office. Whatever is necessary to give security from want, and furnish reasonable physical, mental, and spiritual enjoyment. So held where an executor was directed to pay the testator's widow as much of a certain fund as is "necessary for her comfort." See AID, 1. 1 Central Shade-Roller Co. v. Cushman, 143 Mass. 1 Stephen Plead., Tyl. ed., 206, 210. See Gould, Pl. 364 (1877); Craft v. McConoughy, 79 III. 346 (1875). See 322; 2 Chitty, Pl. 555. Aldrige v. State, 59 Miss. 255 (1881), Chalmers, C. J. Stephenson v. Brooklyn R. Co., 114 U. S. 157 (1885); Thatcher Heating Co. v. Burtis, 121 id. 286, 295 (1887), cases. 4 Sargent v. Hall Safe and Lock Co., 114 U. S. 86 (1885), cases. • Rowell v. Lindsay, 113 U. S. 102 (1885), cases. See also Booth v. Parks, 1 Flip. 381 (1884), cases; Hill v. Sawyer, 31 F. R. 282 (1887), cases; 20 Wall. 368; 92 U. S. 357; 109 id. 420; 111 id. 103; 17 F. R. 80, cases; 19 id. 509, cases. generally as to combinations for stifling competition, 20 Am. Law Rev. 195-216 (1886), cases. 2 Commonwealth v. Carlisle, Brightly's Rep. 40 (Pa., 1821), Gibson, J. See Commonwealth v. Gallagher, 2 Pa. L. J. Rep. 64 (1814). 3 Morris Run Coal Co. v. Barclay Coal Co., 68 Pa. 173, 186-88 (1871), cases. See also Vanarsdale v. Laverty, 69 id. 103, 108 (1871) - an agreement not to employ one as a teacher. 4 Mogul Steamship Co. v. M'Gregor, Gow & Co., L. R., 15 Q. B. D. 476, 482 (1885), Coleridge, C. J. 5 Commonwealth v. Hunt et al., 4 Metc. 131 (1842), • Watson v. Harlem, &c. Navigation Co., 52 How. Pr. Shaw, C. J. 358 (1877). * Forman v. Whitney, 2 Keyes, 168 (1865)

COMFORTv.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

To make strong; to invigorate; to fortify; to corroborate. [Obs.] Wyclif. God's own testimony . . . doth not a little comfort and confirm the same. Hooker. To assist or help; to aid. [Obs.] I . . . can not help the noble chevalier: God comfort him in this necessity! Shak. To impart strength and hope to; to encourage; to relieve; to console; to cheer, Light excelleth in comforting the spirits of men. Bacon. That we may be adle to comfort them that are in any affliction. 2 Cor. i. 4. (Rev. Ver. ). A perfect woman, nobly planned, To warn, to comfort, and command. Wordsworth.

COMFORTn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

Assistance; relief; support. [Obs. except in the phrase "aid and comfort." See 5 below.] Shak. Encouragement; solace; consolation in trouble; also, that which affords consolation. In comfort of her mother's fears. Shak. Cheer thy spirit with this comfort. Shak. Speaking words of endearment where words of comfort availed not. Longfellow. A state of quiet enjoyment; freedom from pain, want, or anxiety; also, whatever contributes to such a condition. I had much joy and comfort in thy love. Phil. 7 (Rev. Ver. ). He had the means of living in comfort. Macaulay. A wadded bedquilt; a comfortable. [U. S.] Unlawful support, countenance, or encouragement; as, to give aid and comfort to the enemy. Strength and relief received under affliction; Positive enjoyment, of a quiet, permanent nature, together with the sources thereof; as, the comfort of love; surrounded with comforts; but it is with the former only that the word consolation is brought into comparison. As thus compared, consolation points to some specific source of relief for the afflicted mind; as, the consolations of religion. Comfort supposes the relief to be afforded by imparting positive enjoyment, as well as a diminution of pain. "Consolation, or comfort, signifies some alleviation to that pain to which it is not in our power to afford the proper and adequate remedy; they imply rather an augmentation of the power of bearing, than a diminution of the burden." Johnson.

comfortverb

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.

To relieve the distress or suffering of; to provide comfort to. | To make strong; to invigorate; to fortify; to corroborate. | To assist or help; to aid.

comfortnoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Contentment, ease. | Something that offers comfort. | A consolation; something relieving suffering or worry. | A cause of relief or satisfaction.

Comfortname

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

A surname. | A female given name. | A place in the United States: | A township in Kanabec County, Minnesota. | A place in the United States: | An unincorporated community in Jones County, North Carolina. | A place in the United States: | A census-designated place in Kendall County, Texas. | A place in the United States: | A census-designated place in Boone County, West Virginia. | A place in the United States: | An unincorporated community in the town of Weston, Dunn County, Wisconsin.

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