Definition
In law, miscasting refers to an error in the auditing or numerical calculation of accounts — specifically, a mistake in casting (summing or tallying) figures. The term describes an arithmetic or clerical error made in the process of computing totals, as might arise in the settlement of accounts, estate administration, or financial proceedings before a court. Bouvier's distinction is critical: miscasting covers genuine arithmetic errors, but does not extend to "pretended miscasting or misvaluing" — that is, deliberate manipulation disguised as inadvertent error.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Present participle and gerund of "miscast" — primarily used in theatrical and film contexts to mean assigning an actor to a role for which they are unsuitable.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Not separately defined; the word would be understood as "casting incorrectly," with "cast" carrying meanings that include throwing, shaping, or computing.
The gap between common and legal meaning is substantial. In modern everyday English, "miscasting" almost exclusively evokes the entertainment industry. In law, the term belongs to the vocabulary of accounting and auditing, referring to errors in numerical computation. A researcher encountering "miscasting" in a legal source should not import the theatrical meaning; the word is doing entirely different work.
Common Confusion
MISCASTING vs. MISVALUING: These are paired but distinct concepts in historical accounting practice. Miscasting is an error in arithmetic — adding, totaling, or numbering incorrectly. Misvaluing is an error in the assigned worth of an item — appraising something at the wrong figure. A party challenging an account needed to identify which type of error was at issue. Conflating them could result in a defective pleading or exception.
Why It Matters in Research
Miscasting is a narrow, specialized term appearing primarily in the context of accounts — probate and estate accounting, chancery proceedings, and auditor's reports. Its practical importance lies in the distinction Bouvier draws: a genuine miscasting (an honest arithmetic error) is correctable; a pretended miscasting is something closer to fraud or misrepresentation, and courts would treat the two very differently.
Researchers working with historical equity or probate records should be alert to this term appearing in exceptions to accounts or in pleadings challenging an accounting. When a party alleged miscasting, they were typically claiming that the account-keeper had made computational errors that required correction, not that the underlying values or characterizations of items were wrong (that would be misvaluing). The distinction between miscasting and misvaluing was a practical pleading distinction: you had to identify the right type of error to mount the right challenge.
Because the term is essentially obsolete in modern legal usage — contemporary accounting disputes use different vocabulary — it appears almost exclusively in historical legal materials, particularly pre-twentieth-century chancery, probate, and commercial records. Do not expect to find it in modern case law or statutes.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's is the primary historical legal dictionary source for this term, and its treatment is characteristically brief but precise. The entry draws a clean line between genuine arithmetical error (miscasting proper) and pretended miscasting or misvaluing — a distinction with real procedural teeth in equity practice, where exceptions to accounts had to be specifically and honestly stated. Bouvier's cross-reference to his own Institutes (4 Bouvier, Inst. n. 4128) situates the term within his broader treatment of accounts and auditing procedure.
No other major historical legal dictionaries — Black's, Stroud's, Tomlin's — devote separate entries to this term, suggesting it was understood as a term of art within accounting practice rather than a freestanding legal concept requiring extensive definition.