Definition
An indefinite expression for a small or limited number. In legal usage, "few" carries no fixed numeric value and is generally treated as imprecise language insufficient to satisfy contexts requiring exact description. Courts and dictionaries have consistently held that where precision is demanded — in the description of parties, quantities, dates, or conditions — the word "few" will not answer.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): An indefinite but usually small number; not many, in comparison with another number stated or implied.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Not many; small, limited, or confined in number — indicating a small portion of units or individuals constituting a whole.
Editorial note: The common and legal meanings largely align — both treat "few" as indefinitely small. The legal significance lies not in a departure from ordinary meaning but in the consequences of that indefiniteness. In common speech, vagueness is unremarkable; in legal instruments, it may be fatal to the provision.
Common Confusion
"Few" is occasionally used interchangeably with "several" or "some" in ordinary drafting. These are not legal equivalents. "Several" carries distinct legal meaning in many contexts (see SEVERAL LIABILITY, SEVERAL TENANCY), while "few" carries none — it is simply imprecise. Drafters who intend a defined minimum or maximum number must use an exact figure. Using "few" where precision is required does not become enforceable by context or implication; courts have declined to fix a number to the term.
Why It Matters in Research
For corpus researchers, "few" is primarily a cautionary term — a marker of imprecision in historical legal instruments rather than a term of art. Its appearance in deeds, contracts, wills, or pleadings from any period signals a potential drafting defect. Historical courts applied this standard consistently: the Vermont and English cases cited across all three source dictionaries confirm that as early as the mid-nineteenth century, "few" was understood to be legally insufficient wherever exact description was required.
Researchers working with older instruments should note that the indefiniteness of "few" was litigated in both property and contract contexts. When encountered in a conveyance — for example, "a few heirs" or "a few days after" — the term functioned as a red flag for vagueness challenges. The Black's 1st edition fragment referencing "heirs" (2 Bl. Comm. 112; 1 Washb. Real Prop. 66) suggests that "few" appeared in discussions of inheritance and succession, where numeric precision matters considerably for identifying rightful takers.
Researchers should not expect jurisdictional variation to have resolved the indefiniteness. No jurisdiction has assigned a fixed numeric meaning to "few" in general legal usage, though specific regulatory schemes (building codes, environmental law, administrative rules) occasionally define the term by context. Always check whether a governing statute or regulation supplies a definition before treating "few" as meaningless in a specialized context.
Historical Dictionary Support
All three source dictionaries — Black's 1st edition, Black's 2nd edition, and Bouvier's — are in complete agreement: "few" means an indefinite small number, and it will not satisfy a requirement of exact description. This is a rare instance of total consensus across the historical legal lexicon, which itself signals that the principle was well-settled by the time these dictionaries were compiled.
Black's 2nd edition is the most useful for corpus researchers because it supplies actual case citations: Butts v. Stowe (53 Vt. 603), Allen v. Kirwan (159 Pa. 612), and Wheelock v. Noonan (108 N.Y. 179). These cases represent the substantive authority behind the definitional claim and are the appropriate starting point for any deeper research into the legal treatment of imprecise quantity language.
Bouvier's entry is essentially derivative of Black's 1st edition, adding no independent analysis. What historical sources collectively miss is any treatment of "few" in modern regulatory or administrative contexts where definitional specificity may have been supplied by rule or statute — that gap falls outside their scope and must be addressed through current primary sources.
Jurisdictional Note
No jurisdiction assigns "few" a fixed legal number in general common law usage. Some specialized regulatory frameworks — particularly in environmental, administrative, and weather-reporting contexts — define the term for their own purposes, but these definitions do not carry over to contract, property, or procedural law. Researchers encountering "few" in any jurisdiction should treat it as indefinite unless a controlling statute or regulation expressly defines it.