EXC - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

EXCAuthored

The Law Mind • 691 words

Definition

"Exc" is not a recognized independent legal term. In legal manuscripts, early printed texts, and historical deed practice, "exc" appears as a scribal or typographical abbreviation. Its most common legal use is as a shortened form of one or more of the following:

1. EXCEPTION — a formal objection interposed during trial or proceedings, preserving error for appellate review; also a clause in a deed carving out rights or property from a grant.

2. EXCHANGE — a conveyancing transaction in which two parties mutually transfer properties to one another.

3. EXCHEQUER — the English royal court of revenue jurisdiction, or the treasury department itself.

4. EXECUTOR / EXECUTRIX — the personal representative named in a will to administer a decedent's estate.

Context within the surrounding text controls which expansion is correct. No uniform standard governed abbreviation practice in historical legal manuscripts, and a single scribe might use "exc" to mean different things in different instruments.

Common Confusion

Because "exc" is an abbreviation rather than a term of art, the primary research hazard is misexpansion. Burrill's partial entry fragment — appearing in the context of deed warranties, conditions, and water rights — suggests the abbreviation there likely resolves to EXCEPTION or EXCHANGE in a conveyancing context. Researchers who expand "exc" automatically as "except" or "exception" without reading surrounding text risk misreading instruments in which the intended word is "exchange," "exchequer," or "executor." The confusion is compounded because these underlying terms belong to entirely different areas of law.

Why It Matters in Research

Abbreviation fragments are a persistent hazard in the Law Mind corpus wherever historical materials have been transcribed, scanned, or excerpted. Several practical points govern research here:

First, the Burrill entry for "exc" as it appears in the source material is not a standalone definition — it is a fragment of surrounding entries, most likely for EXCEPTION in the deed and water-rights context, given the Bracton and Fleta citations and the references to conditions and warranties in deeds. Researchers should not treat the fragment as a complete entry.

Second, Bracton (fol. 232) and Fleta (lib. 4, c. 1, § 19), cited in the surrounding text, address land and water rights under medieval common law. If "exc" in that context means "to raise" or "to overflow" (i.e., the act of exceeding a watercourse boundary), the term may be functioning as a verb abbreviation rather than a noun. Read the full passage before concluding.

Third, in deed practice generally, "exception" and "reservation" were terms of art with distinct legal effects — an exception carved something out of what was being granted, while a reservation created a new right in the grantor. Misreading "exc" as either one when the other was intended changes the legal effect of the instrument.

Fourth, in Exchequer practice, "Exc" with a capital letter frequently appeared as a heading or docket abbreviation in pleading records, process books, and enrolled accounts. It carries no substantive legal meaning on its own in that context.

Historical Dictionary Support

Burrill's Law Dictionary does not carry a complete entry under "EXC" as an independent term. The source fragment in which "exc" appears is drawn from surrounding entries dealing with deed conditions, warranties, and water rights, with citations to Bracton and Fleta. This suggests Burrill was treating material under EXCEPTION (deed context) or a related conveyancing term. The fragment references Nelson, C.J., in 2 Hill's (N.Y.) Reports at 434–437, a nineteenth-century New York authority, alongside the medieval sources — indicating Burrill was tracing the concept from its common law origins through American reception. No other historical shelf dictionaries in the current corpus carry a standalone entry for "exc" as a term of art.

Jurisdictional Note

Abbreviation conventions varied by jurisdiction, time period, and even individual scrivener. English practice, early American practice, and civil law-influenced jurisdictions (Louisiana, Quebec) each had distinct shorthand traditions. Resolve ambiguous abbreviations by reference to the jurisdiction's own contemporaneous instruments where possible.

EXCmain

Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867

( 577 ) general policy of the common law, or con- 184, O. To raise the water in a pond by trary to the provisions of any statute, are damming, so as to overflow another's land. void. Nelson, C. J. 2 Hill's (N. Y.) R. Bract. fol. 232. Fleta, lib. 4, c. 1, § 19. 434, 437. (578) plied a condition and also a warranty. Id. law,) to fulfil such promise, and was liable ibid. The proper word in old deeds of exto an action to enforce it; but as it was change. Perk. ch. 4, ss. 252, 253. See old form in West's Symboleog. part 1, lib. 2, sect. 513. Exchange of money. Molloy de Jur. Mar. 313. A recompense or equivalent in value. 1 Reeves' Hist. 442, 447. 3 Id. 14. See Escambium. ( 579 ) to the consideration of this kind of pleading. See Fleta, lib. 6, c. 36. It is obviously borrowed, with its leading divisions, from the Roman law, (supra,) but is considerably modified and enlarged in its application to English jurisprudence. Id. ibid. Steph. Plead. Appendix, Note (35). Exceptio was also used in the canon law, to denote the second pleading in an action. Corv. Jus. Canon. lib. iii. tit. 32. Exceptio ejus rei cujus petitur dissolutio nulla est. A plea of that matter, the dissolution of which is sought [by the action] is null, [or of no effect]. Jenk. Cent. 37, case 71. Exceptio nulla est versus actionem quæ exceptionem perimit. There is [can be] no plea against an action which destroys [the matter of] the plea. Jenk. Cent. 106, case 2. Exceptio quæ firmat legem, exponit legem. An exception which confirms the law, explains the law. 2 Bulstr. 189. (580) called also perpetua, (perpetual); one which rection given in his charge to the jury; and forever destroyed the subject matter or usually for the purpose either of moving ground of the action, (quæ semper rem de for a new trial, or of bringing a writ of erqua agitur perimit); such as the exceptio ror. Steph. Pl. 89. Steph. Pl. 89. 2 Tidd's Pr. 862. doli mali, the exceptio metûs, &c. Inst. 4. 1 Arch. Pr. 210. The exception is made 13. 9. See Dig. 44. 1. 3. And see Perorally, and a minute or note of it taken in emptory exception. writing on the trial; and it is afterwards formally entered and engrossed in the shape of a bill of exceptions. See Bill of exceptions. In the common law. plea; a plea in bar. 399 b. A peremptory Bract. fol. 240, Lat. (581) (582) modity, or frequently upon the retail sale, little degree of punishment. It is of two which is the last stage before the consump-kinds, homicide per infortunium, by misadtion. Story on the Const. § 953. Anventure; and homicide se defendendo, in drews, Rev. Laws, § 133. self-defence, upon a sudden affray. 4 Bl. Com. 182. 4 Steph. Com. 101. See Homicide.

EXCname

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.

The station code of Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong.

excnoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Abbreviation of execution.

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