DAN

8 definitions found across Law Mind sources

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DANAuthored
The Law Mind • 758 words
Definition
An archaic English honorific denoting a man of rank or standing. Historically used as a title prefixed to a man's name to convey respect or social distinction — roughly equivalent to the modern "Master" or "Mister," and parallel in function to the Spanish "Don." The title was associated with men of the better sort, meaning those of recognized social or professional standing, without necessarily denoting noble rank. It appears in older English legal and literary texts as a form of address or reference, not as a term of art with operative legal significance.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A rank of black belt in martial arts; also, a person who has achieved such a rank. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): A title of honor equivalent to master or sir. Marked obsolete. Webster's illustrates with Spenser's reference to "Old Dan Geoffry" (Chaucer) and Thomson's use in verse. The gap is complete. The modern common meaning (martial arts ranking) has no connection to the historical legal or literary meaning. The legal-historical meaning (honorific title for men of standing) is itself obsolete and carries no operative weight in current law. A researcher encountering "Dan" in a historical legal document is dealing with a form of respectful address, not a term of legal consequence.
Common Confusion
Dan is sometimes loosely associated with Dame, the corresponding title for the wife or widow of a knight or baronet. The two terms are not interchangeable and do not share the same legal weight: Dame carried formal legal significance in the context of baronetcy and knighthood (identifying a woman's legal status and entitlements), while Dan functioned as a general honorific without those formal legal implications. Do not conflate Dan with Don, the Spanish honorific that Black's invokes by analogy — the two are culturally parallel but legally distinct in the sources where each appears.
Why It Matters in Research
Dan appears almost exclusively in pre-modern English legal texts, chronicles, and records — primarily before the seventeenth century. Researchers working in medieval English legal materials, ecclesiastical records, or early common law sources may encounter "Dan" as a prefix to a proper name. Its presence signals respect or standing but does not indicate a specific legal status, office, or rank that carries operative legal consequences. The term has no doctrinal content. It will not appear in a legal test, a statute's operative provisions, or a modern case. Its relevance is purely interpretive: recognizing "Dan" allows the researcher to understand that the individual named was being accorded social respect, not that they held a defined legal position. Researchers should be alert to the risk of misreading "Dan" as an abbreviation or as part of a proper name rather than as a title prefix. In manuscript sources and early printed law books, the line between title and name can blur. Context — particularly comparison with how contemporaneous sources treat "Dame," "Sir," "Master," and "Lord" — will usually resolve ambiguity.
Historical Dictionary Support
The dictionary sources are in agreement on the core meaning. Black's (1st and 2nd editions) define Dan identically as the old term of honor for men, equivalent to modern "Master" or "Mister," citing Wharton and drawing the parallel to the Spanish "Don." Both editions treat the term as entirely historical, with no suggestion of current legal application. Burrill's and Rapalje & Lawrence do not provide a direct entry for Dan as an independent term in the excerpts available; the Rapalje & Lawrence material retrieved is cross-index matter for "Dame" and "Damages," not for Dan itself. Burrill's excerpts are similarly unrelated to Dan. This is itself informative: the absence of substantive treatment in the fuller dictionary sources reflects the term's marginal place in legal vocabulary even by the nineteenth century. Webster's 1913 marks Dan as obsolete, consistent with the legal dictionaries' treatment of it as a historical artifact. No source suggests Dan ever carried the formal legal significance of titles like "Sir," "Dame," or "Lord." It was a courtesy title, not a term of legal art.
Related Terms
Dame — female counterpart; carries formal legal significance in the context of knighthood and baronetcy Sir — the more durable male honorific with genuine legal and formal implications Don — Spanish-language parallel; appears in analogous historical contexts Master — the modern functional equivalent identified by Black's Style and title — the broader legal subject governing honorifics in formal instruments Esquire — another male honorific with contested but more persistent legal usage
DANmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
Anciently the better sort of men in England had this title; so the Spanish Don. The old term of honor for men, as we now
DANmain
Rapalje & Lawrence • 1888
(337) 293. DAMAGES, (defined). 17 Wend. (N. Y.) 285, (what is included). 49 N. H. 387, DAMAGING A VESSEL, (in a statute). 4 Car. & P. 559. 392. (what is not included). 10 Metc. DAME.-The legal title of the wife or widow of a knight or baronet. (Mass.) 1, 4. (N. J.) 480. 681. (for injuries to real estate). 2 Harr. (how estimated). 7 Cow. (N. Y.) Pr. (in a statute). 2 Wils. 91. (in action for dower). Coxe (N. J.) DAMNA.-In old English law, damages, with or without costs. 125. (in action of covenant). 2 Wheat. (U. S.) 62, n. (c); 2 Harr. (N. J.) 304; 3 Cai. (N. Y.) 115; 5 Johns. (N. Y.) 49, 85; 13 Id. 50. (in dower act). 2 Gr. (N. J.) 125. (includes both debt and costs). Cro. Jac. 420. R. 71. (includes costs). 9 East 298, 304; 1 Τ. (liquidated, what are). 2 Dall. (U. S.) 252; 8 Mass. 223, 226; 5 Cow. (N. Y.) 151; 7 Id. 307; 3 Johns. (N. Y.) Cas. 297; 2 Wheel. Am. C. L. 450; 4 Id. 80, 119. (liquidated, what are not). 4 Dall. (U. S.) 149; 7 Wheat. (U. S.) 13; 11 Mass. 76, 83; 1 Pick. (Mass.) 443, 451. (measure of). 1 Baldw. (U. S.) 138; 3 Cranch (U. S.) 298; 4 Dall. (U. S.) 441; 6 Conn. 509, 520; 3 Day (Conn.) 447, 450; 6 T. B. Monr. (Ky.) 286, 291; 2 Mass. 434, 440; 3 Id. 523, 546; 5 Id. 435, 437; 4 Pick. (Mass.) 466, 467; 7 Id. 181, 187; 9 Id. 156, 161; 2
DANmain
Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867
(420) age.) Id. fol. 158. Fleta, lib. 2, c. 47, in the Fr. dampner, solempnitie, and other $25. The word damnum, in this last application, is understood in some of the old dictionaries in the sense of an enclosure; but the corresponding phrase of Britton, en son damage, conclusively shows the true meaning. See Damage. Esse in damno; to be in loss; to be a loser. Bract. fol. 23 b.
DANn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
A title of honor equivalent to master, or sir. [Obs.] Old Dan Geoffry, in gently spright The pure wellhead of poetry did dwell. Spenser. What time Dan Abraham left the Chaldee land. Thomson.
DANn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
A small truck or sledge used in coal mines.
dannoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
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A rank of black belt in martial arts. | Someone who has achieved a level of black belt.
dannoun
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.
Synonym of picul: a traditional unit of weight and mass, chiefly used as a dry measure of grains. | A traditional unit of equivalent volume, now officially equal to 100 liters.

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