Definition
Nances (also rendered "nance" in the singular) is an archaic English legal term referring to an offense against religion — specifically, a category of conduct punishable by fine and imprisonment under English law. The offense falls within the broader historical class of crimes cognizable by English courts on account of their affront to established religious order or doctrine.
The term is rare and appears chiefly in older English legal sources. Its precise substantive scope is defined by its relationship to blasphemy and cognate religious offenses recognized under English ecclesiastical and common law.
Common Confusion
Nances and blasphemy are closely related and sometimes conflated in historical sources. Bouvier's entry for nances directs the reader to the entry for blasphemy, suggesting that the terms share substantial definitional territory or that blasphemy is the better-established parallel category. Researchers should treat nances as a companion or subordinate classification within the family of English religious offenses, not as a fully independent crime with its own discrete doctrinal history. The two terms should not be assumed to be identical; nances may encompass conduct beyond technical blasphemy, but historical sources are not sufficiently detailed to establish a firm boundary.
Why It Matters in Research
This term is nearly exclusively a historical artifact. It does not appear in modern American statutory or case law, and researchers encountering it will almost always do so in pre-twentieth-century English legal texts, digests, or treatises.
Several practical research points apply:
First, the term is defined by a single shared citation across both Black's and Bouvier's — namely, 4 Stephen's Commentaries on the Laws of England. This convergence signals that both dictionaries drew from the same primary source rather than from independent doctrinal development. Researchers seeking substantive elaboration should consult Stephen's Commentaries directly rather than expecting additional depth from either dictionary entry.
Second, because Bouvier's cross-references blasphemy, any research into nances should proceed in tandem with research into blasphemy, profanity, and related English religious offenses. The Law Mind corpus may index these together or separately depending on source structure.
Third, nances has no recognized American legal counterpart under this name. The United States did not inherit this particular terminological category, though functionally similar religious-offense statutes existed in early American jurisdictions under different labels.
Fourth, the spelling and form of the term may vary across historical sources. Researchers should search variant forms and check whether indexing in historical digests groups this term with blasphemy or treats it as a standalone entry.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary and Bouvier's Law Dictionary are in complete agreement on this term: both define nances as an offense against religion punishable in England by fine and imprisonment, and both cite 4 Stephen's Commentaries at page 208 as the authority. The identity of the citation across both sources strongly suggests derivation from a common reference rather than independent verification.
Neither dictionary elaborates on the mental state required, the specific conduct constituting the offense, the procedural mechanisms for prosecution, or the historical frequency of enforcement. Both entries are skeletal by design, likely because the term was already receding from active legal use at the time these dictionaries were compiled.
Bouvier's cross-reference to blasphemy (truncated in the source as "See BLAS-") is the more analytically useful feature of the two entries, as it signals where the substantive doctrinal discussion resides. Black's omits this pointer, leaving the entry more isolated.
Neither source addresses whether nances was a common law offense, a statutory offense, or a creature of ecclesiastical jurisdiction — a meaningful gap for any researcher attempting to trace its procedural history.
Jurisdictional Note
Nances is an English law term with no recognized equivalent in American federal or state law under this name. Its relevance to American legal research is limited to comparative, historical, or reception-of-common-law inquiries.