MANNER - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

MANNERAuthored

The Law Mind • 1166 words

Definition

In legal usage, MANNER refers to the mode, method, or way in which an act is to be performed or a power is to be exercised. It is a word of broad application but limited scope: it describes how something is done, not whether it may be done, and not independently when or by whom.

The term appears most frequently in statutory and contractual drafting, where a provision requiring that something be done "in the same manner" as another act, or "in the manner prescribed by law," sets procedural requirements without necessarily importing the full substance of the referenced procedure.

Courts have consistently held that MANNER is a word of large signification — capable of encompassing a wide range of procedural requirements — but that it cannot exceed the subject to which it belongs. The incident cannot be extended beyond its principal. Accordingly, a directive specifying the manner of doing something does not confer the underlying power to do the thing itself, nor does it necessarily incorporate collateral attributes of the referenced procedure, such as timing or frequency.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): The Wiktionary entry provided is anomalous and does not reflect standard modern usage. In ordinary contemporary English, "manner" means a way of doing something, a style or mode of behavior, or customary practice.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "Mode of action; way of performing or effecting anything; method; style; form; fashion." Also, characteristic mode of conducting oneself.

The common and legal meanings of MANNER are largely aligned, with one important exception. In common usage, "manner" is broad and impressionistic — it can describe bearing, style, or general character. In legal usage, the term is more precisely bounded: courts have repeatedly held that specifying the "manner" of performing an act does not implicitly incorporate timing, frequency, or substantive authority. A researcher encountering "manner" in a statute or instrument should resist reading it expansively to absorb procedural attributes beyond the method of execution itself.

Common Confusion

MANNER vs. TIME: Legal sources expressly note that manner does not necessarily include time. A statute requiring that something be enforced "in the same manner" as another procedure does not by itself require the same schedule, interval, or deadline. This distinction has arisen in tax enforcement contexts and is easy to overlook when reading across provisions that use a single reference to incorporate a larger procedural framework.

MANNER vs. AUTHORITY: The power to prescribe the manner in which an act shall be done is not the same as the power to do the act. Anderson's Dictionary flags this directly: legislative direction of the manner of an election or appointment is an ordinary function, but that direction does not itself constitute the appointing or electing power. Researchers working on separation of powers or delegation questions should not treat a "manner" provision as a grant of substantive power.

MANNER (legal) vs. MAINOUR (archaic): Burrill's Law Dictionary notes that "manner" appears in older sources as a corruption of mainour — a thing stolen, found in the hand of the thief (see MAINOUR). This archaic usage is unrelated to the procedural meaning but can surface in early common law materials, creating confusion.

Why It Matters in Research

MANNER is a deceptively simple word that generates real interpretive disputes in statutory construction. Its primary research hazard is the incorporative reference — a statute that directs something to be done "in the same manner" as another procedure. Courts have refused to read such references as wholesale incorporations of everything associated with the referenced procedure. A researcher analyzing a "same manner" provision must identify precisely which attributes of the referenced procedure are procedural (and therefore incorporated) versus substantive, temporal, or jurisdictional (and therefore not).

In constitutional and administrative law contexts, the distinction between prescribing manner and conferring power is load-bearing. Legislative provisions that purport to regulate the manner of executive action without crossing into substantive control have been upheld; those that use "manner" as a vehicle to effectively absorb substantive authority have been challenged. Anderson's treatment of this distinction is particularly useful for framing that argument.

In older corpus materials — colonial statutes, early American codes, and English common law sources — the word "manner" may appear in proximity to "mainour" or as a phonetic corruption of it. Context will usually distinguish the two, but researchers in criminal law history and early property law should be alert to the possibility.

MANNER also appears frequently in procedural rules governing how legal acts must be accomplished: service of process, execution of instruments, conduct of elections, and notice requirements. In these contexts, courts have generally treated "manner" requirements as mandatory rather than directory when noncompliance would defeat the purpose of the requirement, though this characterization is jurisdiction- and context-dependent.

Historical Dictionary Support

Black's (both editions) and Anderson's converge on the same core proposition: MANNER is a word of large but bounded signification. The incident cannot exceed the principal. All three sources cite the same interpretive rule and illustrate it with the same mining tax example — a statutory requirement that a tax be "enforced in the same manner" as annual taxes does not compel annual collection, because manner does not necessarily include time.

Bouvier's takes a more straightforward definitional approach: "mode of performing or exercising; method; custom; habitual practice." This formulation is consistent with the others but adds "custom" and "habitual practice" to the concept, suggesting a slightly broader historical sense that could encompass established usage or conventional method, not just formally prescribed procedure.

Burrill's, alone among the shelf sources, flags the archaic corruption of mainour — useful historical intelligence but entirely distinct from the procedural meaning. No other source in the set addresses this usage, which reflects Burrill's strength in tracing common law terminology across its older forms.

None of the historical sources address the constitutional dimension of the manner/power distinction in depth. Anderson's comes closest, noting that prescribing the manner of election or appointment is an ordinary legislative function distinct from the power to appoint or elect. For fuller treatment of that dimension, researchers must go beyond the dictionary shelf.

Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Statutory Construction and Interpretation; Manner of Election and Appointment (Constitutional Delegation); Mainour and Infangthief (Historical Criminal Law)

MANNERmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

This is a word of large sig- nification, but cannot exceed the subject to which it belongs. The incident cannot be extended beyond its principal. 75 Pa. St. 89, 54. Manner does not necessarily include time. Thus, a statutory requirement that a mining tax shall be "enforced in the same manner" as certain annual taxes need not imply an annual collection. 8 Nev. 15, 29. Also a thing stolen, in the hand of the thief; a corruption of “mainour,” (q.v.) MANNER AND FORM; MODO ET

MANNERmain

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

This is a word of large sigDification, but cannot exceed the subject to which it belongs. The incident cannot be extended beyond its principal. Wells v: Bain, 75 Pa. 39, 54, 15 Am. Rep. 568. Manner does not necessarily include time. Thus, a statutory requirement that a mining tax shall be ‘enforced in the same manner’ as certain annual taxes need not imply an annual collection. State v. Hureka Consol. Min. Co, 8 Nev. 15, 29. Also a thing stolen, in the hand of the thief; a corruption of “mainour,” (g. v.) MANNER AND FORM; MODO ET

MANNERmain

Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890

A word of large signification, but cannot exceed the subject to which it belongs: the incident cannot be extended beyond the principal.5 The power to direct the “manner," the mode, the way, in which an act shall be done, and the power to do the act itself, are, obviously, not identical. To prescribe the manner of election or appointment to an office is an ordinary legislative function; to make an appointment is an administrative function. In like manner. Assessment of damages "in like manner," as prescribed by a former act, may refer merely to the general method." In the same manner. By similar proceedings, so far as such proceedings are applicable to the subject-matter.8 That a mining tax shall be enforced "in the same manner" as a certain annual tax, does not necessarily mean within the same time." Manner and form. Words used in tendering an issue, general or special. When of the substance of the issue, they put in issue the circumstances to the principal matter denied, - time, place, manner, etc.; otherwise, when not of the substance. When the circumstances are originally and in themselves material, and therefore to be proved as stated, the words "in manner and form" are of the substance. The words put in issue all material circumstances, and no other.10 See MODE; MODUS. 1 L. manifestus, lit., struck by the hand: palpable; 2. Madness, irresistible impulse, insanity. apparent, evident. Mandare, q. v. 2 Matter of Hermance, 71 N. Y. 486 (1877), Allen, J. See 1 Story, U. S. Laws, 593. 4 F. manier, habitual: main, hand. Wells v. Bain, 75 Pa. 54 (1874), Agnew, C. J. See 2 See McKelsey v. Lewis, 3 Abb. N. Cas. 63 (1877). 3 N. Y. Code Civ. Proc. § 3343, subd. 2; People ex rel. Brown v. O'Connell, 36 Conn. 447 (1870); 70 N. Y. 483. Munsell v. Oyer & Terminer, 36 Hun, 281 (1885). 4 French v. Edwards, 13 Wall. 511 (1871), Field, J. St. 560 (1857). See also 20 How. 290; 3 McCrary, 333, 349; 13 F. R. 512, 508, cases. Story, Bailm. § 137. See also 8 Ga. 178; 5 La. An. 207, 672; 10 Minn. 421; 42 Miss. 543; 35 Mo. 492; 58 Ν. H. 17. Gk. mani'a, mental excitement, frenzy, rage. State, ex rel. Attorney-General v. Kennon, 7 Ohio Thirty-fourth Street, Philadelphia, 81 Pa. 31 (1876). Phillips v. County Commissioners, 122 Mass. 260 (1877). • State v. Eureka Consolidated Mining Co., 8 Nev. 29 (1872). See United States v. Morris, 1 Curtis, 26 (1851). 10 [Gould, Plead. 292; Steph. Pl. 213.

MANNERn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

Mode of action; way of performing or effecting anything; method; style; form; fashion. The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land. 2 Kings xvii. 26. The temptations of prosperity insinuate themselves after a gentle, but very powerful,manner. Atterbury. Characteristic mode of acting, conducting, carrying one's self, or the like; bearing; habitual style. Specifically: Customary method of acting; habit. Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them. Acts xvii. 2. Air and manner are more expressive than words. Richardson. Carriage; behavior; deportment; also, becoming behavior; well- bred carriage and address. Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices. Emerson. The style of writing or thought of an author; characteristic peculiarity of an artist. Certain degree or measure; as, it is in a manner done already. The bread is in a manner common. 1 Sam. xxi.5. Sort; kind; style; -- in this application sometimes having the sense of a plural, sorts or kinds. Ye tithe mint, and rue, and all manner of herbs. Luke xi. 42. I bid thee say, What manner of man art thou Coleridge.

mannernoun

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.

Something involving or requiring the specified number of men or people.

Mannername

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

A surname.

mannernoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Mode of action; way of performing or doing anything. | Characteristic mode of acting or behaving; bearing. | One's customary method of acting; habit. | Good, polite behaviour. | The style of writing or thought of an author; the characteristic peculiarity of an artist. | A certain degree or measure. | Sort; kind; style. | Standards of conduct cultured and product of mind.

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