Definition
In legal usage, MOVE carries four distinct meanings, each operating in a different context:
1. To make an application to a court. A party "moves" the court when formally requesting a ruling, order, or other judicial action. This is the dominant modern legal sense. The request itself is called a motion; the party making it is the movant.
2. To propose or recommend action in a deliberative body. A legislator, board member, or committee participant "moves" to adopt a resolution, approve a measure, or take some collective action. The usage tracks parliamentary procedure.
3. To pass over or be transferred (consideration). In contract law, consideration is said to "move" from a party when it originates with or is furnished by that party. The phrase "consideration must move from the promisee" reflects a core rule of contract formation.
4. To occasion, contribute to, or tend toward a result. An archaic causation usage appearing primarily in early common law materials. Historical sources cite the example of a wagon's forewheel being said "to move to the death of a man" — the origin of deodand liability for instrumentalities of harm.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To change place or posture; to go from one place to another; to act or take action; to change residence.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To cause to change place or posture; to set in motion; to carry, convey, draw, or push from one place to another; to impel; to stir.
The gap between common and legal meaning is substantial. In everyday English, "move" is almost entirely spatial — changing location. In law, the most important usage (meaning 1) is wholly non-spatial: a litigant who "moves the court" is not going anywhere. A researcher encountering "move" in historical legal sources must read context carefully, since the causation sense (meaning 4) can easily be misread as physical movement.
Common Confusion
Meaning 4 — the causation sense — can create confusion when reading early common law records. "The forewheel moved to the death" does not mean the wheel physically displaced the victim in a legally relevant way; it means the wheel was the contributing cause of death, triggering deodand forfeiture. Researchers unfamiliar with deodand doctrine may misread this usage as a simple description of physical events rather than a legal attribution of causal responsibility.
Why It Matters in Research
The four meanings of MOVE appear in completely different parts of the Law Mind corpus and are not interchangeable. Identifying which sense is operating requires attention to context:
Procedural sources (court rules, pleading manuals, case records): Meaning 1 dominates. A party "moving for" something is seeking a court order. The corresponding noun — MOTION — is the primary research entry for procedural doctrine.
Legislative and parliamentary materials: Meaning 2 applies. Resolutions, committee records, and floor proceedings use "move" in the parliamentary sense.
Contract sources: Meaning 3 appears in discussions of consideration doctrine, particularly in older treatises and English equity materials. The phrase "consideration must move from the promisee" is a term of art that does not mean consideration travels physically.
Early common law and tort history: Meaning 4 is confined almost entirely to pre-modern sources. It connects directly to the deodand doctrine (see Burrill's cross-reference to DEODAND and LIS MOTA). Researchers in legal history, tort origins, or property forfeiture will encounter this sense; those working in modern law almost certainly will not.
Researchers in family law should note that the colloquial "move-away case" has become a recognized term of art in custody litigation — not a definition of the verb MOVE itself, but a compound usage worth knowing when navigating family law materials.
Historical Dictionary Support
The five source dictionaries are in substantial agreement on the core meanings but differ in emphasis and detail.
Black's (1st and 2nd Ed.) provides the most complete enumeration of all four meanings. The 2nd edition adds the Sayer citation for the deodand causation sense ("The forewheel of a wagon was said 'to move to the death of a man.' Sayer, 249"), which is the only direct textual illustration across all sources.
Bouvier's is the most economical, limiting its entry to meanings 1 and 2 and redirecting to MOTION for procedural elaboration. This is consistent with Bouvier's general approach of concentrating definitional depth at the noun rather than the verb.
Burrill's gives the most attention to meaning 4, quoting both the deodand example and a Law French phrase from Britton (c. 126) — "toutz pleas meus et à mover" (all pleas moved and to be moved) — situating the term within medieval pleading practice.
Anderson's is notable for pivoting quickly from the verb MOVE to its derivatives: MOVABLE and MOVABLES. This is useful for researchers who encounter "move" in a property context and need to track whether the issue concerns the verb (consideration, procedure) or the adjective form and its associated doctrine of movable property.
No source offers meaningful treatment of the parliamentary sense beyond bare acknowledgment. Researchers working in legislative history will need to look beyond these dictionaries to parliamentary procedure authorities.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Child Custody — Relocation (Move-Away Cases) (The Law Mind Family Law Encyclopedia, family_77): Relevant when "move" or "move-away" appears in custody, parenting plan, or relocation disputes.
Deductions — Moving Expenses Military Only (The Law Mind Tax Encyclopedia, tax_34): Relevant when "moving expenses" appears in tax contexts; note that post-2017 federal law substantially restricted the moving expense deduction for civilian taxpayers.