ESC

5 definitions found across Law Mind sources

ESCAuthored
The Law Mind • 796 words
Definition
ESC, in historical legal usage, is an abbreviated or contracted form appearing in legal texts, writs, and records. In the context of Burrill's Law Dictionary and classical common law practice, the abbreviation appears in connection with writs of error, particularly in the phrase referring to writs examined by judges without removal of the record — most notably associated with writs of error coram nobis and coram vobis, and writs of error for error in fact. The abbreviation should not be treated as a freestanding legal term of art. It functions as a scribal or typographic shorthand in historical legal manuscripts and printed digests, and its meaning depends entirely on context.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): ESC is used as an initialism for several modern technical and scientific phrases, including electronic stability control (automotive safety systems), embryonic stem cell (biology), electronic speed controller (electronics), and extended static checking (software). It is also used as an alternative form of "Esc," referring to the escape key on a computer keyboard. Historical common usage: No general-language historical usage in Webster's 1913 corresponds to ESC as a defined entry. Editorial note: The modern initialisms bearing this abbreviation have no relationship to its appearance in historical legal texts. A researcher encountering ESC in a digitized legal corpus should treat it as a manuscript contraction or typesetting artifact, not as a term with independent legal meaning. Keyword searches for "ESC" in digitized legal collections will return substantial false-positive results drawn from modern technical and scientific contexts.
Common Confusion
ESC as it appears in Burrill is easily conflated with the modern initialisms catalogued in general reference sources. The risk is most acute in full-text corpus searches: a query for ESC may surface automotive, biological, or computing materials rather than the writs-related legal content for which a researcher is looking. The abbreviation also risks confusion with ESC as a truncation of "escape" in legal contexts where escape from custody is at issue — a wholly different area of law.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers using the Law Mind corpus should be cautious in two directions. First, ESC as a search term is unreliable for historical writ research. The surrounding text — coram nobis, coram vobis, error in fact, writ of error — is far more productive as a search anchor than the abbreviation itself. Second, the passage in Burrill in which this abbreviation appears is substantively about the distinction between writs of error that remove the record and those that do not: a writ of error coram vobis operates as a commission to the judges of the original court to examine the error in fact without sending the record elsewhere, while a writ of error coram nobis performs the same function in a court examining its own prior proceedings. The American practice noted by Burrill — adopting the English writ of error for error in fact — is relevant for researchers tracing the procedural history of post-conviction error correction in American jurisdictions that followed English common law forms. This line of authority feeds directly into the modern coram nobis tradition that persisted in some U.S. states well into the twentieth century.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary does not treat ESC as a standalone entry with a developed definition. The abbreviation appears embedded in a passage (at page 554) addressing writs of error, particularly the coram nobis and coram vobis forms, and the English practice of error for error in fact as received into American jurisdictions. Burrill's treatment is consistent with other nineteenth-century common law digests in treating these writs as closely related mechanisms for correcting errors of fact in the original court without the formality of a full removal of record. No other historical dictionary in the Law Mind shelf treats ESC as an independent term, and the abbreviation as used by Burrill appears to be a typographic or scribal contraction rather than a defined term of art warranting its own entry. Researchers should treat the Burrill passage as a secondary reference point for the substantive law of writs of error rather than as authority on the abbreviation itself.
Jurisdictional Note
The writ of error for error in fact, to which the Burrill passage refers, was received into American practice unevenly. Some states adopted it expressly; others replaced it with statutory post-conviction remedies. The coram nobis writ survives in some U.S. jurisdictions in modified form. State-specific research is essential.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia — Writs; Error (Writ of); Coram Nobis
Related Terms
Coram nobis — Coram vobis — Writ of error — Error in fact — Error in law — Post-conviction relief — Record (legal) — Commission (judicial) — Escape (as independent legal term)
ESCmain
Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867
( 554 ) ; writ is called a writ of error coram vobis the writ in these cases being merely in the nature of a commission to the judges to examine the error, without removing the record out of the court. Id. ibid. 1137, 1143. See Coram nobis, Coram nobis. The same kind of writ, under the name of a writ of error for error in fact, is in use in such of the United States as follow the English practice. But the most usual and important species of writ of error is that which lies for error in law, and which removes the record to a superior court, in order to have the judgment reviewed. This writ is well described as consisting of two parts, a certiorari to remove the record, and a commission to examine it. 2 Tidd's Pr. 1134, 1143. 1 Arch. Pr. 229, 230. When the record, or a transcript of it has been removed to the superior court in compliance with the writ, the particular error complained of is brought before the court by means of pleadings and issue thereon; and after argument on the points presented by the parties, if the court be of opinion that there is error in the judgment of the court below, it proceeds to reverse the judgment; otherwise, the judgment is affirmed. See United States Digest, Error. Under the new practice introduced in England, by the Common Law Procedure Act of 1852, writs of error are, in most cases, abolished. They have also been abolished in New-York, Ohio, Indiana, and several other states. See Writ of error. (555) land was recovered of a tenant, as in an action of dower, and the tenant had vouched another to warranty, he was allowed out of the vouchee's land enough to make up for what he had lost, which was called escambium ad valentiam; (L. Fr. eschaunge a la vaillaunce). Bract. fol. 27, 296 b, 301, 387 b. Britt. c. 75, 105. (556) 1 Crabb's Real Prop. 638, § 818. 2 Id. 144. Termes de la Ley. 2 Bl. Com. 245. 1028, 2411. Mr. Stephen distinguishes 3 Id. 194. Now abolished. 1 Steph. Com. between escheat properly so called, and for401, note. feiture; the former being the effect of the death of the tenant without heirs, the latter of his violation of his duty to his lord. 1 Steph. Com. 166. A distinction is also made in the case of attainder, between escheat to the lord of the fee, and forfeit ure to the crown. Id. 409. See ForfeitBut both words seem to have been used indifferently to signify the same thing, from a very early period. Britt. c. 18. See Escata, Eschete. ure The land or fee itself, which thus fell back to the lord. Spelman, voc. Eschata. Such lands were called excadentiæ, or terræ excadentiales. Fleta, lib. 6, c. 1. Co. Litt. 13 a. Any profits that fell to the lord on the tenant's death, without heirs. Called by the civilians caduca, (q. v.) Co. Litt. 13 a. Escheat is applied, in old records, to material substances that fell to the ground. Thus the escheat of wood, signified all the appendages of lop and top, &c. that belonged to a tree felled or cut down. John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich, gave liberty to the monks of his church, that in his wood of Thorp they should have one tree with the branches, bark, loppings, root, and all the escheat, (tota eschata). Cowell. See Escata. (557) Felons es Stat. Westm. 1, claimed; publicly declared. cries; notorious felons. c. 12. ESCRIPT, Escrit. L. Fr. Writing; a writing; a written instrument. Mettre en escript; to put in writing. Britt. fol. 1. En escript, issint que lescript soit endente; in writing, so that the writing be indented. Id. c. 2. Par escript de une parte. Id. Soit lour verdit mys en escrit; their verdict shall be put in writing. Id. c. 58. Par title de escrit. Id. c. 66. See Best on Evid. 240, § 198, note. c. 51.
ESCnoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC 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.
Initialism of electronic stability control. | Initialism of embryonic stem cell. | Initialism of electronic speed controller. | Initialism of extended static checking. | Alternative letter-case form of Esc (“escape key”).
Escnoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC 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.
Abbreviation of escape key (on a computer keyboard).
ESCname
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC 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.
Initialism of Eurovision Song Contest.

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