Definition
In legal usage, to crave means to formally ask or demand something in a pleading or judicial proceeding. The term appears most often in the phrase "crave oyer," by which a party in a common-law action formally requested that the opposing party's deed or written instrument be read aloud in open court before the pleading proceeded. It also appears in accounting and chancery practice, where a party craves a credit or allowance — that is, formally requests that an item be recognized in the settlement of an account.
The word carries no connotation of emotional desire or longing in its legal sense. It is a term of art signifying a formal procedural demand addressed to the court or to the opposing party.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To desire strongly, so as to satisfy an appetite; to long or yearn for. Also, more formally, to ask earnestly or to beg from a figure of authority.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To ask with earnestness or importunity; to beg, entreat, or beseech. Also, to call for or require, as the stomach craves food.
The common meaning of crave — intense personal desire or emotional longing — is almost the opposite of its legal function. In legal pleading, the word is purely procedural and formal. It does not imply urgency, emotion, or supplication; it is the technical verb for making a recognized demand in a specific pleading context. A researcher encountering "craved oyer" in an old pleading should read it as a formal motion, not an expression of desire.
Common Confusion
CRAVE is sometimes misread by modern researchers as a synonym for "request" in the colloquial sense, leading to misunderstanding of the procedural significance. When a party craved oyer, this was not a courtesy request but a tactical pleading move with defined consequences: the instrument, once read into the record, became part of the pleadings and bound the party who craved it. Confusing crave with a casual ask obscures that strategic dimension entirely.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in pre-twentieth-century common-law pleading records — particularly English and early American cases in contract and debt — will encounter crave primarily in the phrase "crave oyer." Understanding that this is a term of art pointing directly to the doctrine of OYER is essential; the entry here is essentially a pointer, and the substantive research trail runs through oyer.
In chancery and probate records, "craves a credit" or "craves an allowance" is standard accounting language. Researchers working through estate accountings, guardianship records, or early equity proceedings should recognize this usage as a formal request for a debit-side entry or offset in the account, not a general petition.
Because crave fell out of active legal use as common-law pleading forms were abolished or simplified — in England through the Common Law Procedure Acts of the 1850s, and in American jurisdictions through code pleading reforms beginning with New York's Field Code of 1848 — the term is almost exclusively a historical marker. Encountering it in a pleading is itself evidence of the procedural system in use and the approximate period of the document.
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries are consistent and brief: all define crave as "to ask or demand" and refer readers to OYER as the primary doctrinal entry. Bouvier adds the most useful context, noting both the pleading usage (crave oyer of a bond) and the accounting usage (the accountant-general craves a credit), and citing Chitty's Practical Treatise on Pleading — a real and verifiable source — for the practice.
Rapalje & Lawrence contributes a notable aside: the entry pivots from crave to CRAVEN, the word of disgrace pronounced on a champion who yielded in trial by battle, citing Glanville's description of it as an infamous and shameful word. This juxtaposition is historically interesting but does not affect the primary legal meaning of crave. It does illustrate how compressed early legal dictionaries were and why researchers should not expect these entries to be exhaustive.
None of the historical dictionaries discuss the strategic consequences of craving oyer — that is, how the act of craving an instrument incorporated it into the pleadings — which is arguably the most legally significant aspect of the term. For that dimension, researchers must go beyond the dictionary shelf to Chitty on Pleading or Stephens on Pleading.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: OYER; PLEADING (Common Law Forms).