GUINEA - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

GUINEAAuthored

The Law Mind • 739 words

Definition

In legal usage, guinea denotes a unit of monetary account equal to one pound and one shilling (£1 1s.), or twenty-one shillings sterling. Though originally a physical gold coin struck by the English mint, the guinea ceased to circulate as currency after the reign of William IV, when existing coins were called in. From that point forward, the term survived exclusively as an accounting denomination — most notably as the conventional unit in which barristers' fees were quoted and paid.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Primarily a geographic term referring to the coastal region of West Africa or the nation of Guinea; also an informal term for an Italian person.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): A gold coin of England worth twenty-one shillings, named for the West African region from which the gold used in its first minting was sourced; also a geographic descriptor applied to the Guinea coast and associated flora and fauna.

The gap between common and legal usage is significant. In ordinary historical and modern speech, "guinea" most naturally evokes either the African geography or the physical gold coin. In legal and professional contexts — particularly fee schedules, counsel's invoices, and court documents — guinea had nothing to do with geography and referred solely to the accounting sum of £1 1s., long after the coin itself had disappeared from circulation. A researcher encountering "guinea" in a legal bill of costs or fee agreement should not assume any reference to a physical coin.

Why It Matters in Research

Researchers working with English legal records, fee schedules, or barrister correspondence across the 18th through early 20th centuries will encounter guinea frequently as a unit of professional fees. The critical navigational point is the temporal split: documents predating the reign of William IV may reference guinea in the context of actual coin; documents from the mid-19th century onward use it purely as an accounting convention equal to £1 1s.

The persistence of guinea as a fee denomination long after the coin's withdrawal reflects a professional tradition with practical significance: fees quoted in guineas allowed the solicitor instructing a barrister to retain the odd shilling as their administrative portion, with the pound going to counsel. This convention endured in English legal practice well into the 20th century and is relevant when interpreting historical fee agreements, taxation of costs, or disputes over counsel's remuneration.

Researchers should also note that Bouvier's gives the first coining date as 1662 and ties the name explicitly to gold from the Guinea coast — useful context when the term appears in early colonial-era commercial or admiralty documents where the coin's actual physical value, not just its accounting equivalent, may be at issue.

Historical Dictionary Support

The three source dictionaries converge on the essential points: the guinea was a real English coin, it was called in during William IV's reign, and the word thereafter meant only the sum of £1 1s. Black's (both editions) and Bouvier's are in agreement on this narrative. Bouvier's adds the 1662 coining date and the etymological note tracing the name to the African gold source, which the Black's editions omit.

None of the historical dictionaries fully illuminate the professional convention underlying the fee denomination — the shilling-splitting practice between counsel and solicitor — which requires context from English legal professional history rather than dictionary sources alone. Researchers relying solely on these definitions will understand what guinea means numerically but may not grasp why the denomination persisted in legal practice for so long after the coin vanished.

Bouvier's entry is slightly garbled, rendering the sum as "£1. 18." — almost certainly a typographical error for £1 1s., consistent with the established twenty-one shillings value and confirmed by both Black's editions.

Jurisdictional Note

Guinea as a legal denomination is exclusively an English (and by inheritance, some Commonwealth) usage. It has no counterpart in American legal practice, and researchers working in U.S. sources will not encounter it as a fee convention. In Scottish and Irish legal records it appears occasionally but is less systematically embedded in the fee structure than in English barristers' practice.

GUINEAmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

A coin formerly issued by the English mint, but all these coins were called in in the time of Wm. IV. The word now means only the sum of £1. 1s., in which denomination the fees of counsel are always given.

GUINEAmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

A coin issued by the English mint during the time of Wm. IV. These coins were called in. The word now means only the sum of £1. 18. First coined in 1662. of gold brought from Guinea. Worcester. GULA-THING, THE. A law in force in the southern part of Norway dating from the 11th century. This, along with the law called the Frosta-thing (in force in the more northerly division of Drontheim) are the two most important of those Scandi- navian codes which, it is said, help us to understand more especially the law prevail- ing in the northern parts of England, where the Danish influence was the strongest. 2 Holdsw. Hist. E. L. 3rd ed., 32, 33.

GUINEAmain

Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910

<A coin formerly issued by the English mint, but all these coins were called in in the time of Wm. IV. The word now means only the sum of £1. 1s., in which denomination the fees of counsel are always given.

GUINEAn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

A district on the west coast of Africa (formerly noted for its export of gold and slaves) after which the Guinea fowl, Guinea grass, Guinea peach, etc., are named. A gold coin of England current for twenty-one shillings sterling, or about five dollars, but not coined since the issue of sovereigns in 1817. The guinea, so called from the Guinea gold out of which it was first struck, was proclaimed in 1663, and to go for twenty shillings; but it never went for less than twenty-one shillings. Pinkerton. Guinea corn. (Bot.) See Durra.  -- Guinea Current (Geog.), a current in the Atlantic Ocean setting southwardly into the Bay of Benin on the coast of Guinea.-- Guinea dropper one who cheats by dropping counterfeit guineas. [Obs.] Gay.  -- Guinea fowl, Guinea hen (Zoöl.), an African gallinaceous bird, of the genus Numida, allied to the pheasants. The common domesticated species (N. meleagris), has a colored fleshy horn on each aide of the head, and is of a dark gray color, variegated with small white spots. The crested Guinea fowl (N. cristata) is a finer species.-- Guinea grains (Bot.), grains of Paradise, or amomum. See Amomum.  -- Guinea grass (Bot.), a tall strong forage grass (Panicum jumentorum) introduced. from Africa into the West Indies and Southern United States.  -- Guinea-hen flower (Bot.), a liliaceous flower (Fritillaria Meleagris) with petals spotted like the feathers of the Guinea hen.  -- Guinea peach. See under Peach.  -- Guinea pepper (Bot.), the pods of the Xylopia aromatica, a tree of the order Anonaceæ, found in tropical West Africa. They are also sold under the name of Piper Æthiopicum. --Guinea pig.

guineanoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.

A gold coin originally worth twenty shillings; later (from 1717 until the adoption of decimal currency) standardised at a value of twenty-one shillings. | Synonym of guinea fowl. | A person of Italian descent.

Guineaname

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

The coastal region of West Africa between Morocco and the Congo, particularly the north shore of the Gulf of Guinea. | A country in West Africa. Official name: Republic of Guinea. | Alternative letter-case form of guinea, an Italian.

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