FAUX

Definition

A term of French and Law French origin with two distinct legal meanings depending on context. 1. (Old English law) False; counterfeit. Appearing as a prefix or modifier in compound legal phrases to signify falseness or fraudulent character. Common compounds include: faux action (a false or sham action); faux money (counterfeit currency); faux peys (false weights); and faux serement (a false oath). 2. (French civil law) A falsification or fraudulent alteration or suppression of truth — whether by words, writings, or acts. Roughly equivalent to the Latin falsum or crimen falsi. Bouvier, drawing on Toullier, identifies three gradations of meaning: in its broadest sense, any alteration of truth, intentional or not, nearly synonymous with lying; in a narrower sense, a culpable and intentional alteration of truth causing harm to another; and in its strictest technical sense, a criminal falsification — the forgery or fraudulent alteration of a document or instrument to the prejudice of another's rights.

Common Confusion

FAUX and FALSUM. These terms are functional equivalents, but researchers should not treat them as perfectly interchangeable across sources. Faux is the French and Law French form; falsum (and crimen falsi) is the Latin civil law form. Historical dictionaries — particularly Burrill — explicitly equate them, but the terms travel different documentary trails. A search for one will not reliably surface the other in older English or French legal records. FAUX and FORGERY. In French civil law, faux in its strictest sense encompasses criminal document falsification — what modern law calls forgery. But faux is broader: it includes fraudulent suppression and oral falsification, not only the physical alteration of instruments. Researchers treating faux as a synonym for forgery will underread the French sources.

Recognized Forms

/SUBTYPES Derived and related forms appearing in historical sources: - Faux action — a false or sham legal action brought without colorable basis. - Faux money (faux moneta) — counterfeit currency; addressed in Statute of Westminster I, c. 15. - Faux peys — false weights used in commercial transactions; Britton, c. 20. - Faux serement — a false oath; Statute of Westminster I, c. 38. - Fauxer (also fauser, faucher) — the verb form in Law French, meaning to falsify, forge, or counterfeit. "Fauxer le seal le roy" — to forge the king's seal.

Why It Matters in Research

The primary research trap with faux is its bilingual double life. In records of English legal proceedings, faux appears as Law French shorthand meaning simply "false" — a modifier, not a substantive charge. In French civil law sources and treatises drawing on French authority, faux is a substantive legal concept with doctrinal structure and gradations of culpability. Conflating these two functions will produce misreadings of both English and Continental sources. Researchers working in pre-modern English records should flag faux compounds as signals of falseness or fraud without assuming a formal French civil law doctrine is in play. Conversely, researchers reading French-derived sources — including Louisiana materials and early American treatises that drew heavily on French civil law — should engage with faux as a technical term carrying Toullier's three-tiered analytical framework. The verb form fauxer is important for documentary searches involving forgery of royal or official seals, where the Law French form appears in administrative and statutory records rather than the Latinized falsum. Jurisdictional reach matters here. The French civil law meaning of faux has particular relevance in Louisiana, Quebec, and other mixed civil law jurisdictions where French legal tradition survived reception of common law. In purely common law jurisdictions, faux survives mainly as a historical curiosity in compound phrases.

Historical Dictionary Support

The historical dictionaries are in close agreement on the basic structure of faux. All four sources recognize the dual register — Old English/Law French meaning "false or counterfeit," and French civil law meaning a substantive falsification doctrine. Bouvier provides the most developed treatment, preserving Toullier's three-way analytical breakdown and noting that faux in its technical criminal sense requires both intentional alteration and harm to another. This graduated framework is absent from Black's, which gives a competent but compressed account. Burrill is notable for explicitly equating faux with the Latin falsum and crimen falsi, a cross-reference that aids researchers moving between French and Latin sources. The truncated state of several entries (Black's and Black's 2nd Ed. both appear cut off mid-sentence in the available text) suggests that the published dictionary entries contained additional illustration of the French law meaning that these excerpts do not preserve. Researchers relying solely on Black's should supplement with Bouvier for the civil law dimension. What the historical dictionaries do not address: the procedural mechanics of faux as a civil action in French law — the inscription de faux, the formal challenge to the authenticity of a document in litigation — which appears in French procedural codes but is not carried into these English-language dictionary treatments.

Jurisdictional Note

In common law jurisdictions, faux is an archaic Law French term with no continuing doctrinal life; it appears in historical statutes and early treatises. In Louisiana and other civil law jurisdictions, the French law concept retains historical relevance through the civilian tradition, and researchers working in those materials should consult French-language sources and civil law treatises alongside English-language dictionaries.

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