Definition
In legal usage, QUOTATION carries three distinct meanings:
1. Forensic citation. The production before a court or tribunal of the exact language of a statute, precedent, case, or other authority in support of a legal argument or proposition. Distinguished from mere reference or paraphrase by the requirement of exactness — the words themselves, not just the substance, are placed before the decision-maker.
2. Literary or textual reproduction. The transcription of a portion of a book, writing, or other authored work into another document. This meaning carries direct copyright significance: whether a quotation is "fair" — neither so extensive nor so strategically targeted as to extract the whole value, or the most valuable portion, of the original work — determines whether it constitutes infringement.
3. Commercial price statement. A statement of the current market price of a commodity, security, or goods; or, in contract formation contexts, the price specified by a seller or supplier to a prospective buyer. A quotation in this sense is generally not an offer capable of acceptance but an invitation to negotiate, unless the surrounding circumstances establish otherwise.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A fragment of human expression repeated by someone else, as from literature or a famous speech; also, a price stated for buying or selling.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): The act of citing or naming; that which is cited as evidence or illustration; the naming or publishing of the current price of stocks, bonds, or commodities.
The common meaning and the legal meanings overlap substantially in form but diverge in consequence. In ordinary speech, quoting someone is a neutral act of repetition. In legal contexts, each of the three meanings carries distinct legal weight: forensic quotation imposes obligations of accuracy and attribution; literary quotation triggers copyright analysis; commercial quotation implicates contract formation doctrine. A researcher who treats "quotation" as a unitary concept will miss which body of law governs the dispute at hand.
Common Confusion
Quotation (commercial) vs. offer: A commercial quotation is commonly mistaken for a binding contractual offer. Courts have generally held that a price quotation, absent clear language of commitment, is a solicitation of offers rather than an offer itself — meaning acceptance by the recipient does not automatically form a contract. This distinction is critical in commercial litigation and contract formation research.
Quotation vs. citation: In forensic practice, "quotation" and "citation" are sometimes used interchangeably but are not identical. A citation identifies an authority; a quotation reproduces its exact language. Arguments built on citations alone do not always compel the same force as those anchored in direct textual reproduction, particularly in statutory construction.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers must determine at the outset which sense of "quotation" governs their question, because the three meanings route into entirely different bodies of law and different areas of the Law Mind corpus.
For forensic quotation, the principal research concern is accuracy. Historical sources — briefs, opinions, treatises — sometimes quote statutory or precedential language that was later amended, overruled, or miscited. When tracing an argument through historical materials, verify that the quoted language reflects the text as it stood at the relevant time, not a later version.
For copyright-related quotation, the landscape has shifted significantly since Bouvier's era. The "fair quotation" standard described in Bouvier predates the codification of fair use doctrine in United States copyright law. Historical dictionary definitions on this point are descriptively incomplete for modern research and should be treated as background only; current fair use analysis involves a multi-factor statutory test that those sources do not anticipate.
For commercial quotation, the doctrinal treatment under common law and under the Uniform Commercial Code diverges in important respects, particularly with respect to merchants. Pre-UCC sources will not reflect the Code's treatment of price quotations in merchant-to-merchant transactions, and researchers working in jurisdictions that have adopted the UCC (or its revisions) should weight modern sources accordingly.
Anderson's cross-references (to ABRIDGE and REVIEW) are useful navigational pointers within that dictionary's framework, but they shed little independent light on the term itself.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's (1st and 2nd editions) and Bouvier agree on the three-part structure of the term and use nearly identical language. This consistency across sources reflects a stable understanding of the term's scope in late nineteenth and early twentieth century practice. Bouvier adds the copyright qualification — fair quotation as a defense — that Black's omits, making Bouvier the more useful historical source for intellectual property questions.
None of the historical sources address the contract formation dimension of commercial quotation with any depth, and none anticipates the UCC framework. The historical dictionaries are also silent on the procedural rules governing exact quotation in court filings — requirements that have since been developed through court rules and appellate practice standards in most jurisdictions.
The maxim fragment appearing in Black's 1st edition ("Quoties dubia interpretatio libertatis est") is a separate Latin maxim on the interpretation of liberty and is not part of the definition of "quotation" proper; it appears to be a typographical artifact of the source's page layout.
Jurisdictional Note
The commercial quotation / offer distinction is broadly accepted across common law jurisdictions but is applied with varying rigor. Some jurisdictions and specialized commercial contexts — construction bidding, for example — have developed sub-rules about when a quotation becomes binding. Researchers should not assume uniform treatment across states or across industries.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Copyright (fair use; reproduction of protected works)
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Contract Formation (offer and acceptance; price quotations)
Law Mind Encyclopedia — Appellate Practice (citation and quotation standards in briefs)