CONCEAL - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

CONCEALAuthored

The Law Mind • 1150 words

Definition

To conceal is to hide, withhold, or keep from the knowledge of another — whether by secreting a physical object from sight or by suppressing a mental fact, circumstance, or piece of information that another party has a right or reasonable expectation to know.

The term operates across multiple legal contexts:

1. Criminal law: To conceal is to hide evidence, a fugitive, stolen goods, or a weapon — typically as an element of a substantive offense (concealing stolen property, accessory after the fact, carrying a concealed weapon) or as conduct that elevates an existing offense.

2. Contract and insurance law: To conceal is to withhold a material fact that one party has a duty to disclose. In insurance, concealment is a recognized doctrine under which an insured's failure to volunteer material information — even without affirmative misrepresentation — can void a policy.

3. Civil procedure and limitations law: Concealment by a defendant can toll a statute of limitations under the fraudulent concealment doctrine, preventing the limitations period from running while the plaintiff is kept in ignorance of the cause of action through the defendant's deliberate suppression of facts.

4. Evidence: Concealment of documents, witnesses, or information through destruction or suppression implicates spoliation doctrine and discovery sanctions.

In all contexts, the legal definition is broader than everyday usage: concealment includes passive withholding of information, not only active hiding of physical objects.

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Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To hide something from view or from public knowledge; to try to keep something secret.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To hide or withdraw from observation; to cover or keep from sight; to prevent the discovery of; to withhold knowledge of.

The common meaning of conceal centers on physical hiding — keeping objects or persons out of sight. The legal meaning is considerably broader. Courts and statutes routinely hold that one can conceal a fact, a material circumstance, or a legal right simply by failing to disclose it, without any physical act of secreting. A person sitting quietly at a contract negotiation can legally "conceal" a material defect by saying nothing. This passive dimension is often invisible to lay readers of legal instruments and historical sources.

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Common Confusion

CONCEAL vs. MISREPRESENT: These are distinct legal acts that are often charged together but should not be conflated. A misrepresentation is an affirmative false statement. Concealment is the suppression or withholding of a true fact. In insurance law especially, the two are separate grounds for voiding a policy, with different elements and sometimes different consequences. Historical sources occasionally blur this line; researchers should verify which doctrine is actually at issue in a given case.

CONCEALED vs. LYING IN WAIT: Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) expressly warns against treating these as synonymous. A person may be concealed — hidden from view — without lying in wait in the legal sense, which requires the additional element of waiting for an opportunity to attack. This distinction matters in criminal law, particularly for aggravated assault or homicide statutes that attach enhanced penalties to one but not the other.

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Why It Matters in Research

The word "conceal" is a cross-domain term, appearing in criminal codes, insurance statutes, contract doctrine, and civil procedure — often with context-dependent meaning. Researchers must identify which legal framework governs before treating sources as interchangeable.

In historical sources, concealment doctrine in insurance law was particularly strict. Common law treated an insured's silence on a material fact as grounds for avoidance even without fraudulent intent, a standard since softened in many American jurisdictions to require materiality and sometimes intent to deceive. A historical case applying the strict concealment rule may not accurately reflect current law.

In criminal law, the phrase "concealed weapon" is governed almost entirely by state statute, and the definition of what constitutes concealment varies widely — from complete invisibility to partial covering to mere inaccessibility to public view. Corpus research on concealed carry law must account for these definitional differences across jurisdictions and eras.

The fraudulent concealment tolling doctrine is a fertile area where small definitional differences matter greatly. Some courts require active concealment by the defendant; others toll upon a showing that the plaintiff could not reasonably have discovered the claim regardless of any act by the defendant. Historical cases may use the same language to mean different things.

Anderson's Dictionary of Law entry for CONCEAL appears to be corrupted in the source, with unrelated account-render material prepended before the definition. Researchers using that source should be aware of this editorial defect.

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Historical Dictionary Support

Black's (1st Ed.) and Black's (2nd Ed.) give identical core definitions, both citing Gerry v. Dunham, 57 Me. 339, for the proposition that concealment covers mental facts withheld from knowledge as well as physical objects hidden from sight. This dual-coverage formulation — mental and physical — is the most important doctrinal point in the historical record, and both editions treat it as settled.

Bouvier's definition tracks Black's almost verbatim on the same point, citing the same Maine authority (with a likely transcription error in the reporter citation: 57 Me. 839 vs. 57 Me. 339). This convergence across major dictionaries reflects genuine consensus rather than copying artifacts: by the late nineteenth century, courts had clearly established that concealment was not limited to acts of physical hiding.

What the historical dictionaries do not address: the fraudulent concealment tolling doctrine, the insurance law concealment doctrine as a standalone body of rules, and the regulatory concealed-carry framework that would develop through the twentieth century. Researchers should treat the historical dictionary coverage as foundational but incomplete.

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Jurisdictional Note

Concealed weapon definitions and licensing regimes are entirely state-governed and vary substantially — what constitutes a "concealed" firearm differs by statute across jurisdictions, and shall-issue versus may-issue licensing frameworks affect enforcement and litigation. In insurance law, the materiality and intent requirements for concealment as a policy defense vary by state, with some jurisdictions codifying standards that depart from the strict common law rule.

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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

Concealment and Fraud in Insurance Applications (The Law Mind Insurance Law Encyclopedia)
Tolling Doctrines — Equitable Tolling, Fraudulent Concealment, and Class Action Tolling (The Law Mind Civil Procedure & Evidence Encyclopedia)
Weapons Offenses — Concealed Carry Laws and Licensing (The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia)

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CONCEALmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

To hide; secrete; withhold from the knowledge of others. The word "conceal," according to the best lexicographers, signifies to withhold or keep secret mental facts from another's knowledge, as well as to hide or secrete physical objects from sight or observation. 57 Me. 339.

CONCEALmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

To withhold or keep secret mental facts from another's knowl- edge, as well as to hide or secrete physical objects from sight or observation. 57 Me. 839.

CONCEALmain

Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890

Plene computavit. He has accounted in full. A plea in the action of account-render that the defendant has fully accounted. Quod computet. That he account, - computent, that they account. An interlocutory judgment in accountrender or action of account, at law or in equity, that the defendant render an account before an auditor or a master.1 To hide, keep from view, cover up, secrete; to prevent discovery of; to withdraw from reach; to withhold information. 1. To hide or secrete a physical object from sight or observation.2 The act of March 2, 1799, authorizing the seizure of "concealed" goods, subject to duty, requires that the goods be secreted - withdrawn from view. It does not apply to a mere removal, though fraudulent.3 To "conceal property" in order to prevent its being taken on process includes not only physical concealment-literal secreting or hiding, but also the doing of any act by which the title of a party is concealed, - his property so covered up that it cannot be reached by process. The provision may apply to realty as well as to personalty.4 A horse may be "concealed" by destroying the means of identifying him. The word includes all acts which render the discovery or identification of property more difficult. A "concealed weapon" is a weapon willfully covered or kept from sight. See further WEAPON. 2. To shelter from observation; to harbor; to protect. See HARBOR, 1. 3. To withdraw to a place where one cannot be found; to abscond, q. v. "Concealment by a debtor to avoid the service of summons" involves an intention to delay or prevent creditors from enforcing their demands in the ordinary legal modes. It may be by the debtor's secreting himself upon his own premises, or by departing (1887), cases; Chicago, &c. R. Co. v. Catholic Bishop, secretly to a more secure place, in or out of the county 119 III. 531 (1887). 1 Jeffries v. Mutual Life Ins. Co. of New York, 110 U. S. 309-10 (1884), cases. 21 Bates, Partn. §§ 382, 387, cases. 3 Whipple v. Whitman, 13 R. I. 512-15 (1882), cases; Township of North Whitehall v. Keller, 100 Pa. 108 (1882); Holker v. Parker, 7 Cranch, 452 (1813). See R. S. §§ 269, 273. See 3 BL. Com. 341-48. 3 Bl. Com. 164; 81 N. Y. 271. of his residence.7 13 Bl. Com. 164; 1 Story, Eq. § 548. 2 [Gerry v. Dunham, 57 Me. 339 (1869). 3 United States v. Chests of Tea, 12 Wheat. 486 (1827). 4 [O'Neil v. Glover, 5 Gray, 159 (1855); 4 Cush. 453. State v. Ward, 49 Conn. 442 (1881). • Owen v. State, 31 Ala. 389 (1858). 7 Dunn v. Salter, 1 Duv. 345 (1864). See also Frey v. Aultman, 30 Kan. 182, 184 (1883).

CONCEALv.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

To hide or withdraw from observation; to cover; to cover or keep from sight; to prevent the discovery of; to withhold knowledge of. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing. Prov. xxv. 2. Declare ye among the nations, . . . publish and conceal not. Jer. 1. 2. He which finds him shall deserve our thanks, . . . He that conceals him, death. Shak.

concealverb

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 hide something from view or from public knowledge, to try to keep something secret.

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