ENCE - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

ENCEAuthored

The Law Mind • 426 words

Definition

"Ence" does not appear to be a recognized legal term. The source material provided under this headword consists of fragments from entries for other terms — including portions of definitions for "Declaration of Independence," "gross negligence," "incorporation by reference," and "preference in bankruptcy" — none of which constitute a definition of "ence" as a standalone legal concept.

This entry cannot be completed as a substantive definition because no coherent legal meaning can be derived from the available source material. The dictionary excerpts appear to be artifacts of incomplete or mislabeled data extraction, likely capturing the tail end of words ending in "-ence" (e.g., "independence," "negligence," "preference") rather than a discrete headword.

Why It Matters in Research

Researchers encountering "ence" as a headword in a digitized legal dictionary should treat it as an indexing or OCR artifact. Historical legal dictionaries, particularly those digitized from 19th-century print editions, are susceptible to truncation errors at page breaks and column boundaries. A word ending in "-ence" at the close of one column or page may be incorrectly captured as a standalone entry when the leading syllables appear on the prior page or are otherwise dropped during optical character recognition.

If you are researching a term that ends in "-ence," consider the following terms that appear in the source fragments and may represent your actual research target:

- INDEPENDENCE (as in Declaration of Independence) — see Bouvier's and Black's excerpts referencing the July 4, 1776 declaration
- NEGLIGENCE / GROSS NEGLIGENCE — see Burrill's excerpt referencing magna or crassa negligentia and the law of bailment
- PREFERENCE (bankruptcy) — see Bouvier's excerpt on surrender by a preferred creditor in bankruptcy proceedings
- INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE — see Bouvier's excerpt on bringing contents of one document into another by reference

Historical Dictionary Support

The source excerpts confirm that no historical legal dictionary in the Law Mind corpus defines "ence" as an independent term. Black's, Bouvier's, and Burrill's each provide fragments that are clearly mid-entry text from other headwords. Notably, the Black's fragment contrasting "decision" and "opinion" and citing 13 Cal. 27 appears to be pulled from an entry on OPINION or DECISION, not from any entry beginning with or titled "ence."

Researchers should not treat any of these fragments as authoritative on the topic they appear to address, as they are incomplete and lack their originating headword context.

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Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

A public act by which, through the Continental Congress, the thirteen Brit- ish colonies in America declared their inde- pendence, in the name and by the authority of the people, on the fourth day of July, 1776, wherein are set forth :- Certain natural and inalienable rights of man; the uses and purposes of governments; the right of the people to institute or to abolish them; the sufferings of the colonies, and their right to withdraw from the tyr- anny of the king of Great Britain; The various acts of tyranny of the British king; The petitions for redress of those injuries, and the refusal to redress then; the recital of an appeal to the people of Great Britain, and of their being deaf to the voice of jus- tice and consanguinity; An appeal to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of the intentions of the representatives; A declaration that the United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and inde- pendent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be dissolved; A pledge by the representatives to each other of their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. The effect of this declaration was the es- tablishment of the government of the United States as free and independent.

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Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867

GROSS NEGLIGENCE or NEGLECT. [Lat. magna, or crassa negligentia.] In the law of bailment. The want of slight diligence. Story on Bailm. § 17. The want of that care which every man of common sense, how inattentive soever, takes of his own property. Jones on Bailm. 118. 2 Kent's Com. 560.-The omission of that care which even inattentive and thoughtless men never fail to take of their own property. Clifford, J. 20 Howard's R. 367. Gross negligence imports not a malicious intention or design to produce a particular injury, but a thoughtless disregard of consequences; the absence rather than the actual exercise of volition with reference to results. Sanford, J. 23 Connecticut R. 443. And see 16 Howard's R. 469.