Definition
To give formal notice to a person or entity of a fact, event, proceeding, or legal obligation. In legal contexts, "notify" carries a structured meaning distinct from casual communication: it implies (1) a person or party under a duty to give notice, (2) a prescribed or legally recognized manner of delivery, and (3) a recipient who is legally entitled to receive that notice. The act of notifying is complete only when these three elements align — communication alone is insufficient if the sender lacks the duty, uses an improper method, or delivers to the wrong party.
As a verb, "notify" typically appears in procedural rules, contracts, statutes, and regulatory regimes to trigger deadlines, rights, or obligations. When a statute or rule says a party "shall notify," it almost always means something more specific than "tell someone." The content, timing, method, and recipient of the notification may each be separately defined.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To give someone notice of an event; to make something known; to make note of something.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "To make known; to declare; to publish… To give notice to; to inform by notice; to apprise."
The common meaning is broad and informal — notifying a friend of a party, or notifying the public of a closure. The legal meaning tightens this considerably. In legal proceedings, the word imports a duty-bound act: the notifying party must have authority or obligation to give notice, must do so in a prescribed manner, and must reach the legally designated recipient. A notification that fails any of these requirements may be legally void even if the other party actually received the information.
Common Confusion
"Notify" and "notice" are grammatically related but functionally distinct in legal research. NOTICE is the noun — it refers to the information conveyed or the legal condition of having been informed. NOTIFY is the verb — it refers to the act of conveying that information in the required manner. A party may have actual notice (they learned of the fact) without ever having been properly notified (no formal communication was made by the required party in the required way). Confusion between these terms can cause researchers to misread procedural rules: a requirement that a party "notify" another is not satisfied merely by showing that party had notice.
Why It Matters in Research
The weight this word carries shifts significantly depending on the legal context. In procedural law — civil procedure, administrative law, bankruptcy — "notify" is a term of art tied to service requirements, filing deadlines, and jurisdictional triggers. Whether notification was properly given can determine whether a court has personal jurisdiction, whether a default judgment stands, or whether an agency action is valid.
In contract law, notification clauses are frequent and variable. "Notify within 30 days" may be defined in the agreement itself to include or exclude specific methods (written notice only, certified mail, email with read receipt). Researchers reading historical contracts or older case law should be alert to the fact that acceptable methods of notification have expanded — telegrams were once a recognized formal method; email was not always treated as sufficient written notice.
In statutory contexts, "notify" often triggers regulatory timelines. Environmental statutes, labor laws, and securities regulations all use the term to start compliance clocks. Researchers should not assume that what satisfies notification under one statutory scheme satisfies another.
The historical corpus will also reflect a narrower field of recognized notification methods. Pre-20th century materials treat publication in a newspaper, posting, or personal service as the primary means; constructive notification by electronic means is entirely absent. Researchers working across time periods should account for this when comparing whether historical and modern "notification" requirements are truly analogous.
Historical Dictionary Support
Both editions of Black's Law Dictionary converge on the same authoritative statement: in legal proceedings and public matters, "notify" imports a notice given by a person whose duty it was to give it, in a manner prescribed, and to a person entitled to receive it. The second edition attributes this formulation to Appeal of Potwine, 31 Conn. 384, grounding what might otherwise seem like editorial gloss in judicial authority.
What the historical sources do not address is the procedural fragmentation that modern researchers encounter — the fact that "notify" in a federal civil rule, a state statute, and a private contract may each demand different content, different timing, and different methods. The dictionary entries treat the term as relatively uniform across legal contexts. Modern usage has diversified considerably, and researchers relying on Black's alone may underestimate how context-dependent the requirements have become.
Neither edition addresses constructive notification, electronic notice, or notification by publication as alternatives — all of which now appear regularly in both statutes and case law. The historical entries reflect a world in which formal duty and prescribed manner were assumed to mean personal or written delivery.
Jurisdictional Note
Requirements for valid notification vary substantially by jurisdiction and by the specific legal context (court rules, agency regulations, contract law). Federal courts apply their own notice rules under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; state courts may impose different service and notification standards. Researchers should never assume that satisfaction of notification requirements in one jurisdiction or regulatory scheme carries over to another.