Definition
To send or carry goods, commodities, technology, software, or services out of a country, typically to a foreign destination. As a noun, an export is anything so transmitted. The term operates at two levels in legal research:
1. Constitutional sense. Under Article I of the U.S. Constitution, "export" refers specifically to goods sent from the United States to foreign countries. The Constitution uses the word to limit federal taxing power (Congress may not tax exports) and to restrict state interference with foreign commerce. Courts and historical sources consistently held that the movement of goods between states does not constitute an "export" in the constitutional sense.
2. Regulatory sense. Modern federal law governs exports through a dense framework of licensing, screening, and enforcement rules. The Export Administration Regulations (EAR), administered by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), control the transfer of dual-use goods, technology, and software. The International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), administered by the State Department, control defense articles and services. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions regimes independently restrict transactions with designated countries, entities, and individuals. Under the EAR, "export" is defined broadly enough to encompass electronic transmissions, deemed exports (releasing controlled technology to a foreign national inside the United States), and reexports from third countries.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Something that is exported; the act of exporting.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To carry or send abroad, or out of a country, especially to foreign countries, as merchandise or commodities in the way of commerce — the opposite of import.
The common meaning tracks the legal meaning reasonably well for physical goods moving across borders. The gap opens in modern regulatory law, where "export" extends to intangibles — technology, software source code, technical data, and even a conversation with a foreign national that discloses controlled information. A researcher relying on the plain English sense will miss the deemed-export doctrine entirely, which is among the most consequential compliance traps in this area.
Core Elements
In the constitutional sense, an export requires:
- A commodity, article, or good
- Actual or intended movement out of the United States
- Destination in a foreign country (not merely another state)
In the regulatory sense (EAR as illustrative), an export includes:
- Physical shipment of items subject to the EAR out of the United States
- Electronic transmission of controlled technology or software to foreign persons abroad
- Deemed export: release of controlled technology to a foreign national in the United States, regardless of whether the item crosses a physical border
- Reexport: shipment of a U.S.-origin item from one foreign country to another
Why It Matters in Research
The constitutional definition and the regulatory definition operate independently and should not be conflated. Historical sources — including both Anderson's and Burrill's — address only the constitutional meaning. A researcher using those sources to understand modern export control law will find them nearly useless for the regulatory layer, which did not exist in its current form until the Export Control Act of 1949 and its successors.
The deemed-export doctrine is invisible in historical legal dictionaries. It developed administratively and is not intuitive from the word's common meaning. Researchers working on technology transfer, foreign national employment, or university research compliance must engage the EAR directly rather than relying on dictionary definitions.
Jurisdictional variation matters less here than regulatory framework variation. The controlling question in most modern disputes is which regulatory regime applies — EAR, ITAR, or an OFAC sanctions program — and whether a license exception applies. These regimes overlap and interact in ways that require careful corpus navigation.
The constitutional prohibition on federal taxation of exports (Export Clause) remains active law and generates its own line of litigation, entirely separate from regulatory export control. Historical sources are more useful for this constitutional strand of research than for regulatory compliance questions.
Historical Dictionary Support
Anderson and Burrill agree on the core meaning: an export is a commodity sent from one country to another, and the term most naturally appears in the plural. Anderson adds the constitutionally significant clarification that interstate shipment does not qualify as an export under Article I — a point that was litigated repeatedly in the nineteenth century and that remains a fixed interpretive baseline.
Webster's 1913 captures the commercial common understanding of the period accurately. The historical legal dictionaries do not diverge from each other or from Webster's in any meaningful way, which reflects that the term was relatively uncontroversial in its pre-regulatory form.
What the historical sources miss entirely is the post-World War II regulatory architecture. Neither Anderson nor Burrill could anticipate licensing regimes, commodity classifications, or the deemed-export concept. Researchers should treat these historical entries as reliable for constitutional history and nineteenth-century commercial law questions, and look elsewhere for anything touching modern compliance.
Jurisdictional Note
Export regulation in the United States is a federal matter. State law plays virtually no role. International researchers should note that other jurisdictions — the EU, UK post-Brexit, and others — maintain parallel but distinct export control regimes that may apply simultaneously to the same transaction.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
International — Sanctions and Export Controls (OFAC, EAR), The Law Mind Business Organizations & Corporate Law Encyclopedia