Definition
In law, "plastering" refers to the application of plaster to the walls, ceilings, or surfaces of a building as a construction trade and building component. Its legal significance lies primarily in contract and construction law, where courts have held that the term, as used in building contracts and specifications, is broader than its literal meaning suggests: plastering legally includes the work of lathing — the installation of the underlying framework or base material to which plaster is applied — even though lathing is technically a distinct preparatory process.
This interpretive rule matters most in disputes over construction contracts, building specifications, mechanic's lien claims, and materialmen's liens, where the scope of a contractor's obligation under a "plastering" provision is at issue.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Present participle and gerund of "plaster"; the act of applying plaster to a surface.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "The act or process of overlaying with plaster. A covering of plaster; plasterwork."
The ordinary meaning of plastering refers only to the application of the plaster material itself. The legal meaning extends further: courts construing building contracts have held that a contractor who agrees to do the plastering also undertakes the lathing, because lathing is a necessary prerequisite to plastering and is understood in the trade to be encompassed by it. A researcher relying on the common definition alone would underestimate the legal scope of the term as used in construction agreements.
Why It Matters in Research
This term arises in a narrow but well-defined context: disputes over building contracts, construction specifications, and lien claims. The key research trap is treating "plastering" as a simple trade term with a self-evident scope, when courts have affirmatively extended it to cover preparatory work (lathing) not explicitly named.
Researchers working with 19th- and early 20th-century case law — particularly in states like Illinois and New York, where the leading cases originated — should expect that construction contract disputes over the scope of plastering work will turn on this lathing-inclusion rule. The rule reflects the broader interpretive principle that trade terms in contracts are read according to the understanding of the relevant trade, not the lay meaning of the words.
For mechanic's lien and materialmen's lien research, the inclusion of lathing within plastering affects which labor and materials fall within the lien claimant's covered work. A plasterer's lien claim may thus properly encompass lath materials and the labor of their installation.
Anderson's dictionary entry is unhelpful as published — the entry for PLASTERING is truncated and bleeds into the PLAT entry, suggesting a typesetting or editorial error in the source volume. Researchers should not rely on Anderson's for this entry and should go directly to Bouvier's and the underlying case authority.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's Law Dictionary states the rule plainly: "Plastering a building includes lathing," citing two cases. This is the authoritative historical legal statement of the term's scope, and both dictionaries are in agreement on the substance, to the extent Anderson's entry can be read at all.
The brevity of the historical dictionary entries reflects that "plastering" was not a term of art requiring elaborate definition — its legal significance was a specific interpretive rule generated by case law, not a concept requiring doctrinal elaboration. Neither Bouvier nor Anderson purports to define the construction process itself; both simply flag the legal extension of the term's ordinary meaning.
What historical sources miss: neither dictionary addresses how the lathing-inclusion rule interacts with subcontractor arrangements (where a plastering subcontractor and a lathing subcontractor may be distinct parties), or how the rule applies when a contract explicitly separates lathing and plastering into different line items or bid categories.
Jurisdictional Note
The reported authority originates from Illinois (16 Ill. 502) and New York (49 N.Y. 464). The lathing-inclusion rule is a common-law interpretive principle that may apply broadly, but researchers should verify its reception in their target jurisdiction, particularly where state-specific construction lien statutes define covered work categorically.