HOPE - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

HOPEAuthored

The Law Mind • 990 words

Definition

HOPE carries two distinct legal meanings, one topographic and one doctrinal, that appear in entirely different contexts and centuries of legal writing.

1. Topographic term (old English law). A valley or enclosed hollow between ridges. The term appears in early English land law and forest law, where it designated a geographic feature relevant to property descriptions and forest taxation. Black's records an associated fiscal use: a tax within a forest, paid for horned beasts, assessed by reference to such terrain.

2. Precatory language in wills and trusts. In the law of testamentary trusts, "hope" is a precatory word — an expression of wish or desire rather than a command — that courts have held sufficient to raise a trust where the subject matter (the property) and the object (the beneficiary) are identified with adequate certainty. The use of "hope" stands alongside "wish," "request," "desire," and similar words as language that, depending on context, may impose a binding obligation on a legatee or devisee rather than leaving disposition to their discretion.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): In contemporary English, "hope" functions primarily as a verb or noun expressing expectation or desire for a future outcome. As a proper noun, it serves as a given name and a place name in various jurisdictions.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): An archaic topographic sense — a sloping plain between mountain ridges, or a small bay or inlet (chiefly Scottish). Both usages are marked obsolete or dialectal.

The gap between common and legal meaning is significant in the trusts context. In ordinary language, to "hope" for something is understood as entirely non-binding — perhaps the weakest possible expression of desire. In will construction, however, courts have treated the same word as capable of generating an enforceable legal obligation. A researcher encountering "hope" in a will must assess whether the court read it as precatory trust language or as mere aspiration, a distinction the common meaning of the word does nothing to signal.

Common Confusion

HOPE vs. PRECATORY WORDS GENERALLY: "Hope" is one member of a larger class of precatory words that courts have treated inconsistently across jurisdictions and across time. The presence of "hope" in a will does not automatically create a trust; it depends on whether the surrounding context supplies sufficient certainty of subject and object. Researchers should not treat "hope" as a standalone technical trigger. The real legal question is always whether precatory language as a whole, read in context, rises to the level of a binding trust obligation.

PRECATORY TRUST vs. DISCRETIONARY GIFT: Even when "hope" is found sufficient to raise a trust, the resulting obligation differs from an outright devise or a clearly imperative trust. Conflating precatory trust language with direct testamentary command is a recurring error in will construction cases.

Why It Matters in Research

The topographic meaning is essentially a dead letter for modern researchers but is essential for interpreting early English land grants, forest records, and estate descriptions predating the eighteenth century. The word appearing in a medieval or early modern property instrument almost certainly refers to terrain, not to desire.

The precatory trust meaning is the live research thread. Courts in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were deeply divided on when precatory words created trusts and when they did not, and that instability runs directly through cases involving "hope." The Kentucky authority cited in Bouvier (78 Ky. 128) represents one judicial position; other courts in the same era reached opposite conclusions on similar language. Researchers using historical case law must be alert to which side of this doctrinal split a given jurisdiction occupied at the relevant time.

Modern trust law, influenced by the Restatement (Third) of Trusts and the Uniform Trust Code, has generally moved toward stricter construction: precatory words like "hope" are less readily treated as creating enforceable trusts than they were in nineteenth-century equity. A historical case finding a trust based on "hope" may not reflect current doctrine even in the same jurisdiction.

The forest tax meaning (a levy on horned beasts within a forest assessed by terrain) has no surviving legal application but appears in glossaries of forest law and in title abstracts touching ancient royal forest lands in England. It is cited by Black's to Coke on Littleton (Co. Litt. 4b), which remains the authoritative source for this usage.

Historical Dictionary Support

All three source dictionaries agree on the topographic core: hope means a valley. Black's adds the forest tax application; Burrill confirms the valley definition with the same Coke citation. Bouvier notes a slight variation in the Coke reference (Co. Litt. 5b versus 4b in the other dictionaries — a difference likely attributable to edition variation in Coke on Littleton rather than substantive disagreement).

Bouvier's second entry on hope in wills is the only source dictionary that addresses the precatory trust application. This is a meaningful gap: Black's and Burrill treat "hope" solely as a topographic archaism and do not address its function in will construction at all. Researchers relying on Black's alone for guidance on this term would miss the doctrinal content entirely.

Bouvier's entry trails off mid-sentence ("according to the capr—"), indicating a truncation in the available text. The substance, however, is consistent with the general precatory words doctrine as it stood in nineteenth-century American equity.

Jurisdictional Note

The precatory trust doctrine varies significantly by jurisdiction. Some states have codified rules for will construction that limit or eliminate the trust-creating effect of precatory words regardless of subject and object certainty. English courts moved toward restricting the precatory trust doctrine in the late nineteenth century (most prominently following In re Adams and the Kensington Vestry), and American courts did not follow uniformly.

HOPEmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

In old English law. A valley. A tax within a forest, paid for horned beasts. Co. Litt. 4b.

HOPEmain

Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1870

In old English law. A valley. Co. Litt. 4 b.

HOPEmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

A valley. Co. Litt. 5 b.

HOPEn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

A sloping plain between mountain ridges. [Obs.] A small bay; an inlet; a haven. [Scot.] Jamieson.

HOPEn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

A desire of some good, accompanied with an expectation of obtaining it, or a belief that it is obtainable; an expectation of something which is thought to be desirable; confidence; pleasing expectancy. The hypocrite's hope shall perish. Job vii. 13. He wished, but not with hope. Milton. New thoughts of God, new hopes of Heaven. Keble. One who, or that which, gives hope, furnishes ground of expectation, or promises desired good. The Lord will be the hope of his people. Joel iii. 16. A young gentleman of great hopes, whose love of learning was highly commendable. Macaulay. That which is hoped for; an object of hope. Lavina is thine elder brother's hope. Shak.

HOPEv.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

To entertain or indulge hope; to cherish a desire of good, or of something welcome, with expectation of obtaining it or belief that it is obtainable; to expect; -- usually followed by for. "Hope for good success." Jer. Taylor. But I will hope continually. Ps. lxxi. 14. To place confidence; to trust with confident expectation of good; -- usually followed by in. "I hope in thy word." Ps. cxix. 81. Why art thou cast down, O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God. Ps. xlii. 11.

Hopename

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 female given name from English from the virtue, like Faith and Charity first used by Puritans. | An English and Scottish topographic surname from Middle English for someone who lived in a hope, a small enclosed valley. | A male given name transferred from the surname. | A place name, including: | A place in Canada: | A town and district municipality in British Columbia. | A place name, including: | A place in Canada: | A community in the city of Vaughan, Regional Municipality of York, Ontario. | A place name, including: | A place in Canada: | A township municipality in Bonaventure Regional County Municipality, Quebec. | A place name, including: | A settlement near Richmond, Tasman district, New Zealand. | A place name, including: | A place in the United Kingdom: | A village and civil parish in High Peak borough, Derbyshire, England (OS grid ref SK1783). | A place name, including: | A place in the United Kingdom: | A hamlet in Worthen with Shelve parish, Shropshire, England (OS grid ref SJ3401). | A place name, including: | A place in the United Kingdom: | A hamlet in Alstonefield parish, Staffordshire Moorlands district, Staffordshire, England (OS grid ref SK1255). | A place name, including: | A place in the United Kingdom: | A village and community in Flintshire, Wales (OS grid ref SJ3058). | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | A census-designated place in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | An unincorporated community in La Paz County, Arizona. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | A city, the county seat of Hempstead County, Arkansas. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | A minor city in Bonner County, Idaho. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | A township in LaSalle County, Illinois. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | An unincorporated community in Vermilion County, Illinois. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | A town in Haw Creek Township, Bartholomew County, Indiana. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | A township and minor city therein, in Dickinson County, Kansas. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | An unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Kentucky. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | A town in Knox County, Maine. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | A township in Barry County, Michigan. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | A township and unincorporated community therein, in Midland County, Michigan. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | A township in Lincoln County, Minnesota. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | An unincorporated community in Osage County, Missouri. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | A township and census-designated place therein, in Warren County, New Jersey. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | A village in Eddy County, New Mexico. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | A town in Hamilton County, New York. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | A minor city in Steele County, North Dakota. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | An unincorporated community in Brown Township, Vinton County, Ohio. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | A neighbourhood of Providence, Rhode Island. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | An unincorporated community in the town of Cottage Grove and city of Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin. | A place name, including: | A number of places in the United States: | A settlement on Saint Croix, United States Virgin Islands.

hopenoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

The feeling of trust, confidence, belief or expectation that something wished for can or will happen. | The actual thing wished for. | A person or thing that is a source of hope. | The virtuous desire for future good.

hopenoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

A hollow; a valley, especially the upper end of a narrow mountain valley when it is nearly encircled by smooth, green slopes; a combe.

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