Definition
FUTURE INCREASE refers to anticipated gain, growth, or offspring not yet in existence at the time a legal instrument is executed or a cause of action arises. The term appears in two distinct legal contexts:
1. Property / Wills & Estates (historical): In older American property law, particularly in slave-state jurisdictions, "future increase" described the offspring of enslaved women not yet born at the time a will was drafted. A devise of a slave "and her future increase" was a recognized bequest formula. Courts construed the phrase narrowly: it captured only offspring born after the will's execution, not offspring already living at that date.
2. Tort Damages (modern): In personal injury and wrongful death litigation, "future increase" may refer to anticipated growth in damages over time — including projected increases in earning capacity, future medical costs, or the inflation of economic losses not yet incurred at the time of judgment. In this context the phrase is more commonly encountered as a component of "future damages" analysis rather than as a standalone term of art.
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Common Confusion
The historical usage (offspring of enslaved persons as property) and the modern usage (projected tort damages) share a label but are functionally unrelated. Researchers encountering "future increase" in pre-Civil War American legal sources should not import modern damages doctrine to interpret it. Conversely, modern damages analysis draws nothing from the historical property-law usage. The shared terminology is coincidental, not conceptual.
A secondary confusion arises in wills and estates contexts: "future increase" is not synonymous with "issue," "heirs of the body," or "after-born children." Those terms carry distinct rules of construction under intestacy and testamentary law.
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Why It Matters in Research
Historical sources (pre-1865): The phrase "future increase" in antebellum American case law is almost exclusively a chattel slavery term. Bouvier's lone entry — drawn from a Kentucky case — illustrates the interpretive rule: the devise does not reach increase that has already accrued before the will's date. Researchers working in 19th-century probate, estate, or property records from slave-holding states should expect to encounter this usage and should not conflate it with other future-interest doctrine. The relevant body of law is now historically superseded but remains significant for genealogical research, reparations scholarship, and the legal history of property in persons.
Modern tort research: "Future increase" as a damages concept requires attention to the methodology courts use to project and discount future losses to present value. The key research trap is jurisdiction: some courts require expert testimony to establish projected future economic losses; others apply standardized multipliers or statutory caps. The term also intersects with the collateral source rule and structured settlement analysis.
Corpus connections: The Bouvier's entry is thin — a single case citation — which signals that "future increase" was never a heavily theorized term even in its historical context. It was a drafting phrase whose meaning was litigated at the margins. Researchers should expect sparse dictionary support and should look instead to reported case law.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's Law Dictionary provides the only historical dictionary entry for this term and offers minimal doctrinal analysis. It states the rule directly: a devise of a slave and her "future increase" does not, by itself, embrace increase that accrued before the will's date. The single citation to a Kentucky case (7 J.M. Mar. (Ky.) 412) reflects that the interpretive question — how far back or forward does such a devise reach? — arose in probate disputes over the allocation of enslaved persons' children among competing legatees.
No other historical law dictionary in the standard reference shelf (Black's, Burrill, Wharton, Rapalje & Lawrence) carries a dedicated entry for "future increase" as a term of art. This absence confirms that the phrase was a practical drafting convention rather than a formally theorized legal concept. Historical legal dictionaries are of limited help here; primary sources carry the weight.
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Jurisdictional Note
The historical property-law usage was confined to American slave-holding jurisdictions and is legally extinct. The modern damages usage varies significantly by state: rules on discounting future damages to present value, requirements for actuarial or economic expert testimony, and statutory caps on future noneconomic damages differ across jurisdictions and should be verified in the controlling forum.
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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
The Law Mind Torts & Personal Injury Encyclopedia — "Negligence — Damages — Future Damages and Present Value" (torts_18): Primary reference for the modern damages context, including present-value discounting methodology and evidentiary requirements.
The Law Mind Property Law Encyclopedia — "Future Interests — Executory Interests (Springing and Shifting)" (property_7): Provides background on future-interest doctrine relevant to the historical wills-and-estates usage, though the encyclopedia article addresses executory interests in property generally rather than the chattel-slavery drafting convention specifically.
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