Definition
"Feel" does not function as a substantive legal term in modern law. It appears in legal sources almost exclusively in two narrow contexts:
1. As an archaic Law French fragment, where it is recorded as meaning "faithful" — cognate with the French fidèle and related to concepts of fealty, fidelity, and allegiance in feudal tenure.
2. As an ordinary English verb appearing in procedural and evidentiary contexts — most commonly in jury instructions, witness examination, and physical examination standards — where it carries its plain meaning of tactile or sensory perception. Courts occasionally use "feel" in describing the standard of examination for documents, goods, or physical evidence (e.g., whether a reasonable person would "feel" a defect upon handling).
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To use or experience the sense of touch; to become aware of something through physical sensation or through neurons other than those responsible for sight, smell, taste, or hearing; also extended to emotional or intuitive awareness.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To perceive by the touch; to take cognizance of by means of the nerves of sensation distributed all over the body, especially those of the skin; to touch, handle, or examine by touching; to make trial of; to test.
The gap between common and legal meaning is modest but worth noting. In ordinary English, "feel" has both physical (tactile) and emotional senses. In legal usage, when "feel" appears substantively, it almost always refers to tactile, physical perception — particularly in products liability, negligence, and evidence contexts — and the emotional or intuitive sense is generally without legal operative weight. The archaic Law French meaning ("faithful") is entirely disconnected from either common sense and appears only in historical glossaries.
Common Confusion
Researchers encountering "feel" in older English and Norman-French legal manuscripts should be alert to the possibility that the word is not the English verb but rather a phonetic or orthographic rendering of the Law French "feel" meaning "faithful." The two are unrelated in origin and meaning. Burrill records the Law French term alongside cognates FEET (made; done) and FEEZ (pensions; fees), suggesting these fragments appear in close proximity in medieval pleading records and glossaries. Misreading "feel" as the English sensory verb in such a context would produce nonsense.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers in the Law Mind corpus will rarely encounter "feel" as a standalone headword requiring legal definition. Its research significance is almost entirely contextual:
In medieval and early modern sources: "Feel" as a Law French term meaning "faithful" is a minor glossary entry. It connects to the constellation of feudal loyalty terminology — fealty, faith, fidelité — and may appear in tenure documents, oaths, and pleadings. Researchers working on feudal land law, homage, or allegiance should recognize it but will find it subordinate to better-documented terms like FEALTY and FIDES.
In modern common law sources: "Feel" appears in negligence and products liability analysis when courts describe the standard of physical inspection — whether a defect was perceptible by touch — and in evidence discussions about the examination of physical exhibits. It is not a term of art in these contexts; its meaning is its ordinary English meaning. Researchers should not over-index on it.
In jury instruction research: Pattern instructions occasionally use "feel" to describe sensory experience. No special legal loading attaches.
The principal trap for corpus researchers is the archaic Law French usage being misidentified as English, or being overlooked entirely because the term appears unremarkable.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary records "feel" briefly and without independent definition, grouping it as a Law French term meaning "faithful" and directing readers to Kelham's glossary of Norman French. Burrill situates it alongside FEET (feat; made or done) and FEEZ (pensions; fees) — a clustering that reflects the alphabetical arrangement of Law French fragments rather than any substantive connection among the terms.
Burrill does not develop the entry, and no other major historical legal dictionaries — not Bouvier, not Black's in its early editions, not Jacob's Law Dictionary — carry "feel" as a headword. This silence is informative: the term was not considered a working legal term even by the time systematic legal lexicography developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Its appearance in Burrill reflects his ambition to capture the full range of Law French vocabulary rather than any currency the term retained in practice.
The Webster's 1913 definition is standard sensory English and adds nothing specific to legal usage.
Jurisdictional Note
No meaningful jurisdictional variation attaches to this term. The Law French sense is historical and not jurisdiction-specific within the common law tradition. The ordinary English sense, where it appears in legal contexts, varies only as ordinary language varies across jurisdictions.