PERMIT

10 definitions found across Law Mind sources

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PERMITAuthored
The Law Mind • 1338 words
Definition
A permit is a formal written authorization issued by a governmental authority empowering a person or entity to perform an act that would otherwise be unlawful or restricted. Permits are generally distinguished from licenses by their connection to a specific act, transaction, or activity rather than an ongoing professional status, though the terms are frequently used interchangeably in modern regulatory practice. 1. Customs and Excise Permit. In its earliest American and English legal usage, a permit was the instrument issued by customs or excise officers certifying that duties on specified goods had been paid or secured, and authorizing their physical removal from one location to another. This documentary function — tracing the movement of taxable goods — is the meaning most dominant in the historical legal dictionaries. 2. Regulatory Permit. In modern administrative law, a permit is the formal authorization a government agency issues before a regulated activity may commence. This category encompasses a wide range of instruments: building permits, environmental discharge permits, land use permits, firearms permits, and occupancy permits, among many others. The permit typically attaches conditions, specifies scope, and may be revoked for non-compliance. 3. As a Verb. To permit means to grant express leave or authorization to do something, or alternatively to allow something to occur through inaction or acquiescence. The distinction between active authorization and passive sufferance is legally significant, particularly in liability contexts. ---
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A document or artifact rendering something allowed or legal; formal permission. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To consent to; to allow or suffer to be done; to tolerate. Also, to grant express license or liberty to do an act. The common and legal meanings share a core sense, but diverge in one important respect. In ordinary usage, to permit something often implies mere tolerance or non-interference. In legal contexts — particularly licensing, zoning, and environmental law — a permit is an affirmative grant of authority, not passive acquiescence. The Anderson's Dictionary entry captures this precisely: "permit" is more positive than "allow" or "suffer" and denotes a decided assent. A researcher encountering the verb form in statutes, ordinances, or regulatory instruments should determine which sense governs, since liability for "permitting" a nuisance or violation may turn entirely on whether active authorization or mere failure to prevent is sufficient. ---
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES Special Use Permit (also Conditional Use Permit): A land use authorization allowing a property owner to use land in a manner not permitted as of right under applicable zoning, subject to specific conditions imposed by the zoning authority. Environmental Permit: A regulatory instrument required before undertaking activities with environmental impacts — including air emissions (PSD permits, nonattainment permits), water discharges (NPDES permits), and hazardous waste treatment, storage, or disposal (RCRA permits). Each operates under a distinct statutory and regulatory framework. Building Permit: A local government authorization required before construction, demolition, or significant alteration of a structure may begin. Customs or Removal Permit: The historical instrument, largely superseded in modern form, certifying payment or securing of import duties and authorizing removal of goods. ---
Why It Matters in Research
The word "permit" in a legal source requires immediate context-checking. Its meaning shifts dramatically depending on era, subject matter, and whether it is used as a noun or a verb. In historical sources — particularly pre-twentieth-century materials — permit almost exclusively refers to the customs and excise instrument. Researchers encountering "permit" in colonial-era statutes, early federal legislation, or nineteenth-century treatises should presume this narrower, transactional meaning unless context indicates otherwise. In modern regulatory law, "permit" has proliferated into a multi-agency, multi-statutory term of art. An environmental permit, a zoning permit, a building permit, and a firearms permit share the same label but operate under entirely different legal regimes, with different standards for issuance, modification, transfer, appeal, and revocation. Cross-referencing the specific regulatory program — not just the word — is essential. The verb form creates its own research trap. Statutes and ordinances that impose liability on those who "permit" a violation may be construed narrowly (requiring affirmative authorization) or broadly (requiring only knowledge and failure to prevent). Courts have reached different results on this question depending on statutory context, and the historical dictionaries themselves are in mild tension — Anderson's and Bouvier's both flag that while "permit" is more positive than "suffer," it may in some contexts mean the same thing. When researching liability under a "permit" standard, look for judicial interpretation of that specific statutory provision rather than relying on dictionary definition alone. Jurisdictional variation in permit terminology is significant in land use research. Some jurisdictions distinguish sharply between special use permits, conditional use permits, and variances; others use these terms interchangeably or collapse the categories. The Law Mind Property Law Encyclopedia entry on Special Use Permits addresses this confusion in detail. ---
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical sources converge on the customs-and-excise meaning as the core definition. Black's (1st ed.), Rapalje & Lawrence, and Bouvier all lead with the instrument certifying payment of duties and authorizing removal of goods, with Bouvier citing directly to the Act of Congress of March 2, 1799. This consistency reflects the term's primary legal function in the era when these dictionaries were compiled. Black's adds the broader formulation — "a written license or warrant, issued by a person in authority, empowering the grantee to do some act not forbidden by law, but not allowable without such authority" — which anticipates the modern regulatory meaning, though the historical sources do not develop it. Anderson's Dictionary of Law is the most analytically useful of the group on the verb form, drawing a careful distinction between "permit" (decided assent, implies knowledge and intention), "allow" (less positive), and "suffer" (potentially passive). This gradation remains relevant to modern statutory interpretation questions. What the historical sources collectively miss is the full scope of modern administrative permitting. None of the shelf dictionaries could anticipate the environmental permitting regimes of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, or RCRA, or the elaborate special-use permitting frameworks embedded in post-Euclidean zoning law. Researchers should treat the historical definitions as a foundation for the common law background and early statutory meaning, then layer in the modern regulatory context separately. ---
Jurisdictional Note
Environmental permitting requirements and procedures vary significantly between federal programs and state-administered counterparts. Many federal environmental statutes authorize states to administer their own permit programs in lieu of federal oversight, meaning the substantive and procedural rules governing a given permit may differ substantially depending on whether a state has received authorization. In land use law, the availability, standards, and appeal procedures for special use and conditional use permits are entirely creatures of state enabling statutes and local ordinances, with no uniform national framework. ---
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Zoning — Special Use Permits and Conditional Use Permits (The Law Mind Property Law Encyclopedia) New Source Review, PSD, and Nonattainment Permitting (The Law Mind Environmental & Energy Law Encyclopedia) RCRA Permitting, Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities (The Law Mind Environmental & Energy Law Encyclopedia) ---
Related Terms
License — closest synonym; often used interchangeably but traditionally distinguished by duration and professional versus transactional character Variance — related land use concept; relief from zoning requirements rather than authorization for a specific use Authorization — broader parent concept Certificate of Occupancy — related instrument following building permit process Franchise — governmental grant of a right to operateoften distinguished from a permit by its contractual character Suffer — verb form in tension with "permit"; see Anderson's discussion Allow — weaker authorization; see COMMON LANGUAGE discussion above Nonattainment Permit — environmental law subtype NPDES Permit — water discharge permit under Clean Water Act Conditional Use Permit — land use subtype; see RECOGNIZED FORMS
PERMITmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
A license or instrument grant- ed by the officers of excise, (or customs,) certifying that the duties on certain goods have been paid, or secured, and permitting their removal from some specified place to another. Wharton. A written license or warrant, issued by a person in authority, empowering the grantee to do some act not forbidden by law, but not allowable without such authority.
PERMITmain
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910
Witherick, 29 Minn. 156, 12 N. W. 448; State v. Simons, 30 Vt. 620; Miller v. State, 15 Fla. 585; Clark v. Clark, 51 N. J. Eq. 404, 26 Atl. 1012; Hood v. State, 44 Ala. 81. Perjury shall consist in willfully, knowingly, absolutely, and falsely swearing, either with or without laying the hand on the Holy Evangelist of Almighty God, or affirming, in a matter material to the issue or point in question, in some judicial proceeding, by a person to whom a lawful oath or affirmation is administered. Code Ga. 1882, § 4460. Every person who, having taken an oath that he will testify, declare, depose, or certify truly before any competent tribunal, officer, or person, in any of the cases in which such an oath may by law be administered, willfully, and contrary to such oath, states as truth any material matter which he knows to be false, is guilty of perjury. Pen. Code Cal. § 118. The wiliful giving, under oath, in a judicial proceeding or course of justice, of false testimony material to the issue or point of inquiry. 2 Bish. Crim. Law, § 1015 Perjury, at common law, is the “taking of a willful false oath by one who, being lawfully sworn by a competent court to depose the truth in any judicial proceeding, swears absolutely and falsely in a matter material to the point in issue, whether he believed or not.” Comm. v. Powell, 2 Metc. (Ky.) 10; Cothran v. State, 39 Miss. 541. It will be observed that, at common law, the crime of perjury can be committed only in the course of a suit or judicial proceeding. ‘But statutes have very generally extended both the definition and the punishment of this offense to willful false swearing in many different kinds of affidavits and depositions, such as those required to be made in tax returns, pension proceedings, transactions at the custom house, and various other administrative or non-judicial proceedings. A license or instrument granted by the officers of excise, (or customs,) certifying that the duties on certain goods have been paid, or secured, and permitting their removal from some specified place to another. Wharton. A written license or warrant, issued by a person in authority, empowering the grantee to do some act not forbidden by law, but not allowable without such authority.
PERMITmain
Rapalje & Lawrence • 1883
- A license or instrument granted by the officers of customs, certifying that the duties on certain goods have been paid, or secured, and permitting their removal from some specified place to another. PERMIT, (defined). 9 Allen (Mass.) 271. (in a statute). 83 Ν. Υ. 471. (in a will). 2 Taunt. 109. PERMIT DRUNKENNESS, (in licensing act). 2 C. P. D. 74. PERMIT HER TO RECEIVE, (in a will). 1 Rawle (Pa.) 231; 1 Whart. (Pa.) 520; 2 Ld. Raym. 873. PERMITTING AND SUFFERING, (not synony.. mous with knowing of and being privy to). 6 Barn. & C. 295, 303. PERMUTATION, or BARTER. - The exchange of one movable subject for another. See BARTER. PERMUTATIONE, &c. -A writ to an ordinary, commanding him to admit a clerk to a benefice upon exchange made with another.- Reg. Orig. 307.
PERMITv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To consent to; to allow or suffer to be done; to tolerate; to put up with. What things God doth neither command nor forbid . . . he permitteth with approbation either to be done or left undone. Hooker. To grant (one) express license or liberty to do an act; to authorize; to give leave; -- followed by an infinitive. Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Acis xxvi. 1. To give over; to resign; to leave; to commit. Let us not aggravate our sorrows, But to the gods permit the event of things. Addison.
PERMITv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To grant permission; to allow.
PERMITn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
Warrant; license; leave; permission; specifically, a written license or permission given to a person or persons having authority; as, a permit to land goods subject to duty.
permitnoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
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An artifact or document rendering something allowed or legal. | An artifact or document rendering something allowed or legal. | A learner's permit. | Formal permission.
permitverb
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.
To allow (something) to happen, to give permission for. | To allow (someone) to do something; to give permission to. | To allow for, to make something possible. | To allow, to admit (of). | To grant formal authorization for (something). | To attempt to obtain or succeed in obtaining formal authorization for (something). | To hand over, resign (something to someone).
permitnoun
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.
A pompano of the species Trachinotus falcatus.

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