HOLD - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

HOLDAuthored

The Law Mind • 1364 words

Definition

HOLD carries several distinct legal meanings across different contexts. Researchers must identify which sense is operative before pursuing related sources.

Judicial holding. A court is said to "hold" when it formally decides a point of law or issue of fact presented in a case. The holding is the legally operative conclusion of the opinion — the rule actually decided — as distinguished from dicta. When a court "held" a statute unconstitutional, a contract unenforceable, or a party liable, that determination is the holding.

Tenure and property. To "hold" land is to possess it under a recognized form of tenure — freehold, leasehold, copyhold, and so on. The word appears in deeds as a technical term of art, most prominently in the tenendum clause ("to have and to hold"), which historically expressed the tenure by which the grantee was to take the land. This sense is foundational to English feudal land law and remains architecturally important even in modern conveyancing texts.

Detention and custody. To hold a person is to detain them in lawful (or unlawful) custody. "Held without bail," "held in contempt," and "held to answer" all invoke this sense. Courts, jails, and administrative agencies hold persons; this usage intersects with habeas corpus, bail, and pretrial detention doctrine.

Banking and finance. To hold an asset, account, or instrument is to own or retain it. A "hold" placed on a bank account reserves funds against withdrawal. A holding company holds controlling interests in subsidiary enterprises. These commercial uses are institutionalized in statutes such as the Bank Holding Company Act.

Procedural delay. A "hold" in administrative and bureaucratic contexts is an order to suspend action — placing a hold on a file, a transfer, a payment, or a nomination. Senate practice, for instance, recognizes informal holds on nominations or legislation.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A grasp or grip; an act of holding; an order that something is to be reserved or delayed; power over someone or something; a position used to control an opponent; the cargo space of a vessel.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): The whole interior portion of a vessel below the lower deck, in which the cargo is stowed.

The gap matters. In ordinary English, "hold" is primarily physical — gripping, containing, or reserving something. In legal usage, "hold" most often means a court's formal legal conclusion, a form of land tenure, or lawful detention of a person. A researcher encountering "the court held" is not reading about custody or storage; a researcher reading about "copyhold" or "freehold" is working entirely in the tenure sense, not the judicial one.

Common Confusion

HOLDING vs. DICTUM. The most consequential confusion in case law research. Only the holding binds later courts under stare decisis; dicta, however persuasive, does not. Identifying the precise holding of a case — as opposed to its reasoning, illustrations, or commentary — is a core analytical skill. Historical opinions often did not announce holdings with modern clarity, requiring the researcher to reconstruct the rule from context.

HOLD (banking) vs. HOLD (judicial). In financial records and banking regulations, a "hold" freezes an asset. In judicial opinions, "the court held" announces a decision. The words look identical in search results; context must resolve them.

Recognized Forms

/SUBTYPES

Copyhold: Historical English tenure by which land was held at the will of the lord, evidenced by a copy of the court roll. Extinguished in England by the Law of Property Act 1922. Appears extensively in historical sources.

Freehold: Tenure for an indeterminate duration — the holder's life or in fee. The modern default tenure in common-law jurisdictions.

Leasehold: Tenure for a fixed term under a lease.

Hold harmless: A contractual or statutory arrangement by which one party agrees not to hold another liable for specified risks. Distinct from indemnity in some jurisdictions, overlapping in others.

Holding company: An entity that holds controlling interests in other companies rather than conducting direct operations. Regulated under the Bank Holding Company Act in the financial sector.

Why It Matters in Research

The multiplicity of meanings makes "hold" one of the most context-sensitive words in legal research. Failing to identify which sense is operative leads to category errors in both historical and modern sources.

For case law research: Every judicial opinion has a holding, but historical opinions often embedded it within extended narrative without formal announcement. Researchers using older reporters must read carefully to extract the operative rule. Headnotes in West's system purport to identify holdings but are editorial constructions, not authoritative statements of what the court held.

For property research: The tenure-based sense of "hold" is essential to reading any pre-twentieth-century deed or conveyance instrument. The tenendum clause ("to have and to hold") was not mere formality — it specified the nature of the interest granted. Researchers working with colonial American, English, or early federal land records will encounter "hold" in this sense constantly. The historical dictionaries are strong here; this sense has largely faded from modern American practice.

For financial and banking research: The Bank Holding Company Act transformed "holding company" into a term of regulatory art with specific definitional triggers. Whether an entity qualifies as a "bank holding company" or a "financial holding company" under federal law carries significant compliance consequences. The common-language sense of "holding" an asset does not translate directly into this regulatory framework.

For procedural research: Administrative and legislative holds vary by institution and have no single statutory definition. Senate holds, agency file holds, and payment holds each operate under different rules. Sources must be institution-specific.

Corpus connection: The tenure sense of "hold" links directly to copyhold extinguishment doctrine — a subject treated in detail in Burrill and Bouvier — which requires understanding feudal tenure structure before the individual term is meaningful.

Historical Dictionary Support

The historical dictionaries reveal two dominant preoccupations with "hold": tenure and extinguishment of copyhold.

Black's (both editions) and Burrill converge on the definition of hold in the tenure sense — a word "constantly occurring in conjunction with others, as freehold, leasehold, copyhold, but rarely met with in the separate form" (Burrill). This observation remains practically accurate: the standalone word "hold" rarely appears as a defined term in property law; it is almost always a component of a compound tenure designation.

Bouvier adds the most doctrinal content, noting the technical role of "hold" in the tenendum clause of deeds and drawing a distinction — citing period authority — between the power to hold and the power to purchase. Bouvier also captures the judicial sense: "To decide, to adjudge, to decree: as, the court in that case held..." This is one of the few places in the historical dictionaries where the judicial holding sense is directly acknowledged.

The historical sources are largely silent on the banking, financial, and administrative senses of "hold." These are modern accretions; no nineteenth-century dictionary anticipates holding company regulation or account holds. Researchers should not expect historical dictionaries to illuminate these uses.

Anderson's entry, as reproduced, addresses safe-keeping and carriage of personalty — a different legal neighborhood (bailment, storage, transportation) — and is of limited relevance to the primary senses of "hold" in modern legal research.

Jurisdictional Note

The tenure-based sense of "hold" is primarily historical and English. Copyhold was not transplanted to American jurisdictions; American property law developed freehold and leasehold frameworks without the manorial substructure. In England, copyhold tenure was formally abolished in 1922. Researchers working in American jurisdictions should not assume that English copyhold doctrine has domestic application, though it remains relevant background for understanding early American property concepts derived from English common law.

Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

Banking — Bank Holding Company Act and Financial Holding Companies (Law Mind Business Organizations & Corporate Law Encyclopedia)

HOLDmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

In English law. A copyhold is said to be extinguished when the freehold and copyhold interests unite in the same per- son and in the same right, which may be either by the copyhold interest coming to the freehold or by the freehold interest coming to the copy hold. 1 Crabb, Real Prop. p. 670, § 864.

HOLDmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

The change of the tenure by which lands are held from copyhold to freehold, as by a conveyance to the copy- holder or by a release of the seignorial rights. 1 Watk. Copy. 362; 1 Steph. Com. 632: 2 id. 51.

HOLDmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

This takes place by a union of the copyhold and freehold estates in the saime person; also by an act of the tenant showing an intention not to hold any longer of his lord; Hutt. 81; Cro. Eliz. 21; Wms. R. P. 287; Watk. Copyh.

HOLDn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

The whole interior portion of a vessel below the lower deck, in which the cargo is stowed.

HOLDv.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

To cause to remain in a given situation, position, or relation, within certain limits, or the like; to prevent from falling or escaping; to sustain; to restrain; to keep in the grasp; to retain. The loops held one curtain to another. Ex. xxxvi. 12. Thy right hand shall hold me. Ps. cxxxix. 10. They all hold swords, being expert in war. Cant. iii. In vain he seeks, that having can not hold. Spenser. France, thou mayst hold a serpent by the tongue, . . . A fasting tiger safer by the tooth, Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold. Shak. To retain in one's keeping; to maintain possession of, or authority over; not to give up or relinquish; to keep; to defend. We mean to hold what anciently we claim Of deity or empire. Milton. To have; to possess; to be in possession of; to occupy; to derive title to; as, to hold office. This noble merchant held a noble house. Chaucer. Of him to hold his seigniory for a yearly tribute. Knolles. And now the strand, and now the plain, they held. Dryden. To impose restraint upon; to limit in motion or action; to bind legally or morally; to confine; to restrain. We can not hold mortality's strong hand. Shak. Death! what do'st O,hold thy blow. Grashaw. He hat not sufficient judgment and self-command to hold his tongue. Macaulay. To maintain in being or action; to carry on; to prosecute, as a course of conduct or an argument; to continue; to sustain. Hold not thy peace, and be not still. Ps. lxxxiii. 1. Seedtime and harvest, heat and hoary frost, Shall hold their course. Milton. To prosecute, have, take, or join in, as something which is the result of united action; as to, hold a meeting, a festival, a session, etc.; hence, to direct and bring about officially; to conduct or preside at; as, the general held a council of war; a judge holds a court; a clergyman holds a service. I would hold more talk with thee. Shak. To receive and retain; to contain as a vessel; as, this pail holds milk; hence, to be able to receive and retain; to have capacity or containing power for. Broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jer. ii. 13. One sees more devils than vast hell can hold. Shak. To accept, as an opinion; to be the adherent of, openly or privately; to persist in, as a purpose; to maintain; to sustain. Stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught. 2 Thes. ii.15. But still he held his purpose to depart. Dryden. To consider; to regard; to esteem; to account; to think; to judge. I hold him but a fool. Shak. I shall never hold that man my friend. Shak. The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Ex. xx. 7. To bear, carry, or manage; as he holds himself erect; he holds his head high. Let him hold his fingers thus. Shak. To hold a wager, to lay or hazard a wager. Swift.  -- To hold forth, to offer; to exhibit; to propose; to put forward. "The propositions which books hold forth and pretend to teach." Locke.  -- To held in, to restrain; to curd.  -- To hold in hand, to toy with; to keep in expectation; to have in one's power. [Obs.] O, fie! to receive favors, return falsehoods, And hold a lady in hand. Beaw. & Fl. --To hold in play, to keep under control; to dally with. Macaulay.  -- To hold off, to keep at a distance.  -- To hold on, to hold in being, continuance or position; as, to hold a rider on.  -- To hold one's day, to keep one's appointment. [Obs.] Chaucer.  -- To hold one's own. (a) To keep good one's present condition absolutely or relatively; not to fall off, or to lose ground; as, a ship holds her own when she does not lose ground in a race or chase; a man holds his own when he does not lose strength or weight.  -- To hold one's peace, to keep silence.- To hold out. (a) To extend; to offer. "Fortune holds out these to you as rewards." B. Jonson. (b) To continue to do or to suffer; to endure. "He can not long hold out these pangs." Shak.  -- To hold up. (a) To raise; to lift; as, hold up your head. (b) To support; to sustain. "He holds himself up in virtue."Sir P. Sidney. To exhibit; to display; as, he was held up as an example. (d) To rein in; to check; to halt; as, hold up your horses.  -- To hold water. (a) Literally, to retain water without leaking; hence (Fig.), to be whole, sound, consistent, without gaps or holes; -- commonly used in a negative sense; as, his statements will not hold water. [Collog.] (b) (Naut.) To hold the oars steady in the water, thus checking the headway of a boat.

HOLDn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

In general, to keep one's self in a given position or condition; to remain fixed. Hence: Not to more; to halt; to stop;-mostly in the imperative. And damned be him that first cries, "Hold, enough!" Shak. Not to give way; not to part or become separated; to remain unbroken or unsubdued. Our force by land hath nobly held. Shak. Not to fail or be found wanting; to continue; to last; to endure a test or trial; to abide; to persist. While our obedience holds. Milton. The rule holds in land as all other commodities. Locke. Not to fall away, desert, or prove recreant; to remain attached; to cleave;-often with with, to, or for. He will hold to the one and despise the other. Matt. vi. 24 To restrain one's self; to refrain. His dauntless heart would fain have held From weeping, but his eyes rebelled. Dryden. To derive right or title; -- generally with of. My crown is absolute, and holds of none. Dryden. His imagination holds immediately from nature. Hazlitt. Hold on! Hold up! wait; stop; forbear. [Collog] -- To hold forth, to speak in public; to harangue; to preach. L'Estrange.  -- To hold in, to restrain one's self; as, he wanted to laugh and could hardly hold in.  -- To hold off, to keep at a distance.  -- To hold on, to keep fast hold; to continue; to go on. "The trade held on for many years," Swift.  -- To hold out, to last; to endure; to continue; to maintain one's self; not to yield or give way.  -- To hold over, to remain in office, possession, etc., beyond a certain date.  -- To hold to or with, to take sides with, as a person or opinion.  -- To hold together, to be joined; not to separate; to remain in union. Dryden. Locke.  -- To hold up. (a) To support one's self; to remain unbent or unbroken; as, to hold up under misfortunes. (b) To cease raining; to cease to stop; as, it holds up. Hudibras. (c) To keep up; not to fall behind; not to lose ground. Collier.

holdnoun

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 grasp or grip. | An act or instance of holding. | A place where animals are held for safety | An order that something is to be reserved or delayed, limiting or preventing how it can be dealt with. | Something reserved or kept. | Power over someone or something. | The ability to persist. | The property of maintaining the shape of styled hair. | A position or grip used to control the opponent. | An exercise involving holding a position for a set time | The percentage the house wins on a gamble, the house or bookmaker's hold. | The wager amount, the total hold. | An instance of holding one's service game, as opposed to being broken. | The part of an object one is intended to grasp, or anything one can use for grasping with hands or feet. | A fruit machine feature allowing one or more of the reels to remain fixed while the others spin. | A pause facility. | The queueing system on telephones and similar communication systems which maintains a connection when all lines are busy. | A statistic awarded to a relief pitcher who is not still pitching at the end of the game and who records at least one out and maintains a lead for his team. | A region of airspace reserved for aircraft being kept in a holding pattern.

holdadj

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Gracious; friendly; faithful; true.

holdverb

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

To grasp or grip. | To contain or store. | To maintain or keep to a position or state. | To have and keep possession of something. | To maintain or keep to a position or state. | To reserve. | To maintain or keep to a position or state. | To cause to wait or delay. | To maintain or keep to a position or state. | To detain. | To maintain or keep to a position or state. | To be or remain valid; to apply (usually in the third person). | To maintain or keep to a position or state. | To keep oneself in a particular state. | To maintain or keep to a position or state. | To impose restraint upon; to limit in motion or action; to bind legally or morally; to confine; to restrain. | To maintain or keep to a position or state. | To bear, carry, or manage. | To maintain or keep to a position or state. | Not to move; to halt; to stop. | To maintain or keep to a position or state. | Not to give way; not to part or become separated; to remain unbroken or unsubdued. | To maintain or keep to a position or state. | To remain continent; to control an excretory bodily function. | To maintain or keep to particular opinions, promises, actions. | To maintain, to consider, to opine. | To maintain or keep to particular opinions, promises, actions. | To bind (someone) to a consequence of his or her actions. | To maintain or keep to particular opinions, promises, actions. | To maintain in being or action; to carry on; to prosecute, as a course of conduct or an argument; to continue; to sustain. | To maintain or keep to particular opinions, promises, actions. | To accept, as an opinion; to be the adherent of, openly or privately; to persist in, as a purpose; to maintain; to sustain. | To maintain or keep to particular opinions, promises, actions. | To restrain oneself; to refrain; to hold back. | To win one's own service game. | To take place, to occur. | To organise an event or meeting (usually in passive voice). | To derive right or title. | In a food or drink order at an informal restaurant etc., requesting that a component normally included in that order be omitted. | To be in possession of illicit drugs for sale.

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