INCHASTITY - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

INCHASTITYAuthored

The Law Mind • 855 words

Definition

Inchastity is an archaic legal and moral term denoting the absence of chastity — that is, conduct or a condition involving sexual impurity, lewdness, or violation of norms of sexual fidelity or continence recognized by law or social convention. As a legal term, inchastity appeared most often in contexts where sexual conduct was legally cognizable: divorce proceedings (as grounds for dissolution or evidence of fault), defamation actions (where an accusation of inchastity in a woman was actionable per se in many jurisdictions), and statutory offenses targeting prostitution, seduction, or lewdness.

Anderson's Dictionary of Law declines to define the term independently, redirecting to CHASTITY and INCEST — a signal that the substantive legal content resided in those entries, and that inchastity functioned as the negative of chastity rather than as an independently defined legal concept.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Absence of chastity; the quality of being unchaste.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Unchastity. [Obs.]

The common and legal meanings of inchastity are substantially aligned — both treat the term as a negative form of chastity. The significant gap lies not between common and legal meaning but between historical and modern usage: the term was a functional legal word in nineteenth-century pleading and family law, but has since fallen from both common and legal use entirely, replaced by plain-language equivalents. Webster's 1913 flags the word as already obsolescent. Researchers encountering the term in historical legal instruments should understand it as synonymous with unchastity, not as a term of art with distinct legal content of its own.

Common Confusion

Inchastity and unchastity are interchangeable in historical legal sources. Neither should be confused with incest, though Anderson's cross-reference to INCEST reflects that both concepts appeared in overlapping legal territory — particularly in family law and moral offenses statutes. Inchastity is also distinct from adultery and fornication, which were specific legal offenses defined by statute or common law, whereas inchastity was a broader characterization of sexual impropriety that could encompass or fall short of those offenses depending on context.

Why It Matters in Research

Inchastity is a term that lives almost exclusively in historical legal sources. Researchers working in nineteenth and early twentieth-century family law, defamation, or criminal law will encounter it in pleadings, treatises, and statutes; researchers working in modern law almost certainly will not. Several navigational points are worth flagging:

First, the term's legal weight varied significantly by context. In defamation law, an accusation of inchastity directed at a woman was treated as slander per se in many American jurisdictions — actionable without proof of special damages — reflecting gendered legal norms of the period. Researchers analyzing defamation cases involving female plaintiffs in this era should treat inchastity accusations as a distinct doctrinal category.

Second, in divorce proceedings under fault-based regimes, inchastity or unchastity of a spouse frequently appeared as a statutory ground, sometimes distinct from adultery. The relationship between the two grounds — whether inchastity required proof of a specific act or merely a general disposition — varied by jurisdiction and generated genuine interpretive disputes in the cases.

Third, Anderson's redirect to CHASTITY is the practical entry point. Researchers should follow that cross-reference for substantive doctrine; inchastity in legal sources typically appears as a factual allegation or a pleading term rather than as a defined legal standard.

Fourth, the obsolescence of the term means that digital full-text searches of historical corpora may miss relevant material if researchers search only for modern equivalents. Searching for both "inchastity" and "unchastity" is advisable when surveying period sources comprehensively.

Historical Dictionary Support

Anderson's Dictionary of Law provides no independent definition, treating inchastity as a see-also term pointing to CHASTITY and INCEST. This is editorially revealing: it confirms the term had recognized legal relevance (otherwise it would not appear at all) while indicating that its meaning was derivative and contextual rather than technically defined.

Webster's 1913 marks the word as obsolete, suggesting it had already receded from active common usage by the time most American legal dictionaries of the era were compiled — even as it persisted in legal pleading and statutory text, where archaic language tends to survive longer than in ordinary speech.

No surviving historical legal dictionary entry offers an independent substantive definition distinct from the plain meaning of unchastity. This is itself useful intelligence: inchastity carried no special legal meaning layered over its common meaning. Its significance in legal contexts came entirely from the doctrinal framework surrounding chastity — not from any independent technical content the word itself bore.

Jurisdictional Note

The legal consequences attached to inchastity varied substantially by jurisdiction. American states differed on whether unchastity constituted an independent ground for divorce distinct from adultery, and on whether accusations of inchastity in a woman were actionable as defamation per se. English common law and American jurisdictions sometimes diverged on the latter question. Researchers should locate the specific statutory and case law of the relevant jurisdiction rather than assuming uniform treatment.

INCHASTITYmain

Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890

See CHASTITY; INCEST. INCHOATE." Commenced, but not completed; not fully in existence or operation; inceptive; incomplete; imperfect. Opposed, consummate, q. v. Designates a right, title, or claim, not yet complete. 8 Thus, a marriage between minors is inchoate and incomplete. Before the husband's death, right to dower is inchoate. 10 The right of an unborn child to take by descent is inchoate. 11 A legacy transfers an inchoate property to the legatee, perfected by assent of the executor. 12 The right to a copyright may be inchoate. 13 From the moment of his invention, an inventor has an in1 Drews' Appeals, 58 N. H. 320 (1878), cases. 2 F. inceste: L. incestus: in, not; castus, pure. 3 Daniels v. People, 6 Mich. 386 (1859); Territory v. Corbett, 3 Monta. 55 (1877); Commonwealth v. Lane, 113 Mass. 463 (1873); 39 Mich. 124; 44 Pa. 310. Raiford v. State, 68 Ga. 672 (1882). See 4 Bl. Com. 64; 1 Bishop, Cr. L. § 502, 1 Mar. & D. § 312, St. Cr. § 727; 2 Kent, 83; State v. Fritts, 48 Ark. 68-70 (1886), cases. Edwards v. Kansas City Times Co., 32 F. R. 813 (1887). In'-co-āte. L. inchoare, to begin. Trenier v. Stewart, 101 U. S. 802 (1879). 1 Bl. Com. 436. 102 Bl. Com. 130. 11 Marsellis v. Thalhimer, 2 Paige, Ch. 35 (1830). 122 Bl. Com. 512. 13 Lawrence v. Dana, 4 Cliff. 66 (1869). collateral. The "incidental" labor for which a mechanic's lien may be filed in Colorado must be directly done for, connected with, or actually incorporated into the building or improvement, and not indirectly and remotely associated with the construction. Customary incidents. Such incidents as originate in usage or custom.7 Annex incidents. Show what things are to be treated as incidental to another thing the subject of a contract.8 Parol evidence is admissible to annex incidents. The rule is that the incident follows the principal. "When the law doth give anything to one, it giveth, impliedly, whatever is necessary for enjoying the same." When the use of a thing is granted, everything is granted by which the grantee may enjoy such use. The grantor is presumed to intend to make the grant effectual. 10 Thus, whatever is part and parcel of a house, mill, or factory is conveyed eo nomine. 11 Land covered by the eaves of a house goes with a grant of the house. 12 The use of a front-door, entry, windows, closets, pumps, etc., is incident to the tenancy of a room in a house, unless otherwise agreed. The key is an incident to a building; so are the title-deeds to the land; so is rent to the reversion; 13 and so is a remainder to the particular estate. The right of alienation is necessarily incident to a fee-simple at common law. 14 1 Delaplaine v. Lawrence, 10 Paige, 602 (1844). 22 Bl. Com. 437. 3 Trist v. Child, 21 Wall. 451 (1874). 4 L. incidere, to fall upon or into. 5 See Neal v. East Tennessee College, 6 Yerg. 206 (1834). Rara Avis Mining Co. v. Bouscher, 9 Col. 388 (1886). 71 Whart. Εν. § 969. 81 Greenl. Ev. § 294. 2 Bl. Com. 36. 10 Steam Stone Cutter Co. v. Shortsleeves, 16 Blatch. 382 (1879), cases. 111 Greenl. Ev. §§ 286, 294, cases. 12 Sherman v. Williams, 113 Mass. 484 (1873). 132 Bl. Com. 111, 176. 141 Washb. R. P. 54.

INCHASTITYn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

Unchastity. [Obs.] Milton.

inchastitynoun

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.

Absence of chastity; the quality of being unchaste.

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