Definition
An exact copy or reproduction that preserves all the marks, features, and characteristics of the original document or instrument. The term is the Latin root of the modern word "facsimile" and appears in older legal sources as two words. In legal contexts, a fac simile serves as a duplicate that replicates the original with sufficient fidelity to stand in its place for purposes of authentication, evidence, or transmission.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A fax machine or the transmission sent by one; loosely, any exact copy or duplicate of a document or image.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "An exact copy or likeness; a perfect resemblance; as, a fac-simile of a manuscript, of a signature, or of a bank-note." Used in general writing and publishing contexts to mean a reproduction indistinguishable from the original.
The gap between common and legal meaning is less about substance than about legal consequence. In ordinary speech, "facsimile" or "fax" describes a transmission technology or a rough duplicate. In legal usage, the emphasis falls on evidentiary sufficiency — whether the reproduction preserves the marks of the original closely enough to authenticate, verify, or substitute for it in legal proceedings or formal instruments.
Common Confusion
Fac simile (two words, Latin form) and facsimile (one word, modern form) are the same concept at different stages of spelling convention. Researchers should not treat the two-word form as a distinct legal term. Historical sources, including both editions of Black's, consistently use the two-word Latin rendering; modern legal documents, statutes, and rules uniformly use the single-word "facsimile." Confusion arises primarily when searching historical corpora or indices that may shelve these separately.
A secondary confusion is between a fac simile and a certified copy. A certified copy carries official attestation from a custodian of records; a fac simile simply reproduces the original's appearance without independent attestation. Not every fac simile is a certified copy, though a certified copy may itself be a fac simile.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in pre-twentieth-century legal sources will encounter this term spelled as two words — fac simile — without modern hyphenation or consolidation. Searches limited to "facsimile" as a single string will miss older references entirely. Both editions of Black's use the two-word form, suggesting the consolidated spelling had not yet become standard in formal American legal dictionaries at the time of publication.
The legal significance of the term has shifted considerably over time. In nineteenth-century practice, fac simile reproductions were discussed primarily in the context of documentary evidence — whether a copy preserved enough of the original's characteristics to be admitted, or whether a signature reproduced by fac simile on a commercial instrument could bind the maker. By the late twentieth century, the legal questions migrated toward fax transmissions and electronic reproductions: whether a faxed signature satisfies a statute of frauds requirement, whether a facsimile filing meets a court's formal filing rules, and whether electronically transmitted documents retain evidentiary integrity.
Corpus researchers should be aware that the modern "facsimile" literature (dealing with fax machines, e-signatures, and electronic filing rules) is largely disconnected from the classical fac simile literature in older digest entries and treatises. These two bodies of authority address the same underlying concept — the legal standing of a reproduction as a substitute for an original — but use different vocabulary and cite different authorities. Bridging them requires searching both terminological forms.
Jurisdictional variation also matters here: rules governing whether a facsimile signature satisfies execution requirements for wills, deeds, or negotiable instruments differ by state, and many states enacted specific facsimile filing rules for courts that have since been superseded by electronic filing protocols.
Historical Dictionary Support
Both editions of Black's Law Dictionary define the term identically in substance: "an exact copy, preserving all the marks of the original." The second edition contains a minor typographical variation ("A exact copy") but no meaningful definitional change. Neither edition elaborates on evidentiary standards, nor do they address the signature-authentication questions that preoccupied courts and commercial lawyers in the same era. This brevity is notable: by the time of Black's first edition, fac simile signatures on negotiable instruments were already a contested area of commercial law, yet neither edition's entry engages with that litigation context.
The historical dictionaries agree that exactness and preservation of original marks are the defining characteristics — a standard that maps cleanly onto modern authentication analysis, even if the specific legal context has transformed around it.
Jurisdictional Note
Rules governing the legal sufficiency of facsimile transmissions, signatures, and filings vary significantly by jurisdiction and by document type. Many federal and state courts have now absorbed facsimile filing questions into broader electronic filing frameworks, largely displacing earlier fax-specific rules. Researchers should check current local rules rather than relying on pre-electronic-filing era authorities.