Definition
In legal and financial contexts, "long" functions primarily as a term of art in securities and commodities markets rather than as an independent legal concept. A party is said to be "long" — or to hold a "long position" — when they own or control a security, commodity, or other asset in a quantity that equals or exceeds their contractual obligations to deliver it. More broadly, being long on an asset means simply owning it outright or holding it with the expectation that its value will rise.
The term appears in legal practice almost exclusively in compound forms or specialized contexts:
1. LONG POSITION (securities/commodities law): A trader, broker, or speculator is "long" when they hold more of a given security or commodity than they have contracted to deliver. This is the opposite of being "short," where a party has sold what they do not yet own in anticipation of buying it later at a lower price.
2. LONG-TERM (general legal usage): Used as a modifier across many areas of law to indicate duration exceeding a defined threshold — most prominently in tax law (long-term capital gains), family law (long-term or permanent alimony), and healthcare law (long-term care). The specific threshold varies by legal context.
3. LONG ACCOUNT / LONG LEASE: Compound forms noted in historical sources directing researchers to substantive definitions elsewhere. "Long lease" typically refers to a leasehold of extended duration, often carrying distinct legal characteristics from a periodic tenancy.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): The Wiktionary entry for "long" as a standalone noun reflects only proper noun uses — a Chinese surname and a county in Shaanxi, China — neither of which is relevant here. As an adjective in ordinary English, "long" means extended in length or duration.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "Drawn out in a line, or in the direction of length; protracted; extended." Also applied to time: "Drawn out or extended in time; continued through a considerable time." Additionally, "slow in passing; causing weariness by length or duration."
The common meaning tracks closely to its general legal modifier uses ("long-term," "long lease"). The gap emerges specifically in financial and securities law, where "long" functions as a technical term of art describing a market position — ownership or net surplus of an asset — that has no equivalent in everyday usage. A lay reader encountering "the broker was long in the stock" would not intuitively grasp that this describes a specific legal and regulatory posture, not merely that the broker held the stock for an extended time.
Common Confusion
LONG vs. SHORT (securities): "Long" and "short" are opposing positions in securities and commodities trading. A long position involves owning the asset; a short position involves selling an asset not yet owned, typically borrowed, with the obligation to buy it back later. Legal disputes involving short selling, margin requirements, and broker liability often turn on which position a party held at a given moment. Researchers should not assume these terms carry their plain-English meanings in financial pleadings or regulatory documents.
LONG-TERM (tax law) vs. LONG-TERM (family law): The word "long-term" triggers different legal thresholds depending on the field. In federal tax law, long-term capital gains status currently requires a holding period exceeding one year. In family law, "long-term alimony" or "permanent alimony" is defined by the length of the marriage and the financial circumstances of the parties, with no universal durational rule.
Why It Matters in Research
"Long" is almost never the primary term researchers are seeking. Its legal significance is almost entirely as a modifier or positional descriptor. Several research traps apply:
In securities and commodities law, the term "long" appears frequently in regulatory enforcement materials, broker-dealer disputes, and margin account litigation. Researchers must understand the long/short distinction to correctly parse the posture of parties in trading disputes. Black's second edition captures the core financial meaning, but modern securities regulation has layered significant additional doctrine onto this foundational concept.
In tax research, "long-term" is a threshold term triggering preferential capital gains rates. The holding period requirement has changed over time — it was more than six months under earlier law before being extended to more than one year. Researchers working with pre-1978 tax materials should verify the applicable holding period, as sources may reflect the shorter threshold.
In family law, "long-term" alimony terminology varies sharply by jurisdiction and era. Some states have moved away from permanent alimony entirely; others retain it under various names. Historical cases and statutes may use "permanent alimony" where modern materials say "long-term support," and vice versa.
Anderson's Dictionary of Law's entry for LONG simply redirects to ACCOUNT and LEASE — a reminder that the term rarely stands alone in legal authority and that the operative doctrine lives in compound forms.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) provides the clearest technical treatment, identifying the securities market meaning explicitly: a broker or speculator is "long" on stock when they hold it in supply exceeding what they have contracted to deliver. Black's acknowledges this meaning is "not essentially different from its signification in the vernacular" in other compound uses, which is accurate for duration-based compounds but understates the divergence in the trading context.
Anderson's Dictionary of Law offers no substantive definition, redirecting entirely to ACCOUNT and LEASE. This is useful primarily as a signal that historical practice treated "long" as a modifier without independent doctrinal weight — the doctrine resided in the compound term, not in "long" itself.
Neither source addresses "long-term" as a statutory threshold term, which is where the word does its most consequential modern legal work. Researchers relying solely on these historical dictionaries will find them silent on capital gains holding periods and alimony classification frameworks, both of which are primarily statutory and regulatory in origin.
Jurisdictional Note
"Long-term" thresholds vary by legal domain and jurisdiction. Federal tax law sets the capital gains holding period by statute. Family law long-term alimony standards are entirely state-governed, with significant variation — some states have enacted alimony reform legislation capping or eliminating permanent awards. Researchers should not assume a uniform definition across practice areas or across states.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
The Law Mind Tax Encyclopedia, tax_107: Gross Income — Short-Term vs. Long-Term Capital Gains
The Law Mind Family Law Encyclopedia, family_58: Spousal Support — Permanent / Long-Term Alimony
The Law Mind Trusts, Estates & Probate Encyclopedia, estates_99: Medicaid Trusts and Planning for Long-Term Care — 42 U.S.C. § 1396p