RASE

8 definitions found across Law Mind sources

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RASEAuthored
The Law Mind • 888 words
Definition
In old English law, a method of measurement by which a commodity was levied or sold by struck measure — that is, with the contents made level with the brim of the measuring vessel by scraping or striking off any surplus rising above the top. A rase measure was, by definition, a flat or even measure, as opposed to a heaped or rounded one. The term appears chiefly in early English ordinances governing trade, particularly those regulating bakers, brewers, and similar tradesmen. In those contexts, toll or payment was to be taken "by the rase, and not by the heap or cantel" — meaning the recipient was entitled only to a level measure, not to whatever excess a generous or irregular heap might add. ---
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To be extremely angry; to rage. Also used of an animal, specifically a dog or wolf, meaning to snarl in rage. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To rub along the surface of; to graze. Also, to rub or scratch out; to erase. Both senses were noted as obsolescent by 1913. The legal and common meanings share no functional overlap. The legal term is a specialized measurement term of trade regulation, derived from the Latin rasus (scraped or shaved), and has nothing to do with anger, grazing, or erasure. Researchers encountering rase in a historical legal document should resist any pull toward these common meanings. The scraping sense from Webster's is the closest etymological cousin to the legal usage, but even that refers to scraping a measure level, not scraping a surface in passing. ---
Why It Matters in Research
Rase is a term of historical English trade law with no surviving counterpart in modern legal usage. Researchers are most likely to encounter it in: - Medieval and early modern English statutes and ordinances governing weights and measures - Records and regulations touching bakers, brewers, millers, and grain merchants - Commentary on assize law and toll customs The principal research trap is misreading rase as a variant spelling of raze (to demolish) or as a form of erase, both of which appear in period sources and are superficially similar. In a measurement or toll context, however, rase carries its specific technical meaning and should be read accordingly. A secondary trap lies in the related but distinct term raseria, which Burrill identifies as a Latin form from the same root and which appears in medieval Latin instruments. Researchers working with Latin legal texts may encounter raseria where English documents use rase. The contrast with heap measure is legally significant. In trade regulation, the distinction between struck (rase) measure and heaped measure could determine the legal quantity owed for toll, rent in kind, or commercial sale. Disputes over which method applied were genuine points of legal contention, not mere terminological quibbles. Burrill's truncated entry (the text cuts off mid-sentence) suggests that additional context — likely further examples from Cowell or the original ordinance — was present in the source. Researchers relying solely on Burrill should consult Cowell's Interpreter directly for the fuller passage. ---
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill is the primary legal dictionary source for this term in the Law Mind corpus. His entry traces rase to Latin rasus (shaved, scraped) through the Low Latin raseria, correctly grounding the legal sense in the physical act of leveling a measure by scraping. He quotes an old ordinance for bakers and brewers specifying toll "by the rase, and not by the heap or cantel," and notes that Cowell quotes the same provision — though Burrill's characterization of Cowell's treatment as "strange" is unfortunately cut off before the criticism is completed. Cowell's Interpreter is therefore the natural next source to consult, as it likely provides the fuller ordinance text and any interpretive gloss that Burrill found wanting. Older lexicons grounded in English trade and assize law are the most productive shelf companions for this term; general legal dictionaries of the nineteenth century and later largely omit it, reflecting its obsolescence as a term of active practice. No major divergence among historical sources is apparent from the available material; the core meaning of struck or level measure is consistent. ---
Jurisdictional Note
Rase as a legal term is specific to English law and its early colonial extensions. It does not appear as a term of art in Scots law, civil law systems, or American law. Researchers working with American colonial records touching grain or commodity measurement may occasionally encounter it in documents modeled on English trade custom, but it carries no independent American legal history. ---
Related Terms
Heap measure — the contrasting measurement methodby which surplus above the brim was included Cantel — appearing in the same ordinance language; a portion or piecehere likely referring to an irregular or partial heap Struck measure — the modern equivalent concepta measure leveled at the brim Raseria — Low Latin form of the same conceptfound in medieval instruments Assize — the broader regulatory framework within which measurement standards for bakers and brewers were set Toll — the immediate legal context in which rase most often governed the quantity owed Cowell's Interpreter — the period legal lexicon most closely associated with this term in the historical record
RASEmain
Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1870
[L. Lat. raseria, from Lat. rasus, shaved or scraped.] In old English law. Strike; struck measure; that in which the commodity measured was made even with the top of the measure, by scraping or striking off all that was above it.* An old ordinance for bakers, brewers, &c. provided that toll should be taken "by the rase, and not by the heap or cantel." Cowell quotes the provision, but strangely overlooks the meaning it so clearly expresses, and makes rase (raseria) to be "a measure of corn, now disused." To RASE. [from Lat. radere, to scrape.] To rub or scrape; to rub out. An indenture was said to be rased. Perkins, ch. 2, ss. 122, 123, et seq. A word was said to be rased. Id. s. 128. See 3 P. Wms. 433, arg.
RASEv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To rub along the surface of; to graze.[Obsoles.] Was he not in the . . . neighborhood to death and might not the bullet which rased his cheek have gone into his head South. Sometimes his feet rased the surface of water, and at others the skylight almost flattened his nose. Beckford. To rub or scratch out; to erase. [Obsoles.] Except we rase the faculty of memory, root and branch, out of our mind. Fuller. To level with the ground; to overthrow; to destroy; to raze. [In this sense rase is generally used.] Till Troy were by their brave hands rased, They would not turn home. Chapman.
RASEv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To be leveled with the ground; to fall; to suffer overthrow. [Obs.]
RASEn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
A scratching out, or erasure. [Obs.] A slight wound; a scratch. [Obs.] Hooker. A way of measuring in which the commodity measured was made even with the top of the measuring vessel by rasing, or striking off, all that was above it. Burrill.
raseverb
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
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To be extremely angry; to rage; specifically, of a dog or wolf: to snarl in rage.
raseverb
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
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Alternative spelling of race (“to pluck or snatch (something); also, to pull (something)”).
raseverb
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.
Alternative spelling of raze. | Alternative spelling of raze. | To level or tear down (a building, a town, etc.) to the ground; to demolish. | Alternative spelling of raze. | To completely remove (someone or something), especially from a place, a situation, etc.; also, to remove from existence; to destroy, to obliterate. | Alternative spelling of raze. | To erase (a record, text, etc.), originally by scraping; to rub out, to scratch out. | Alternative spelling of raze. | To wound (someone or part of their body) superficially; to graze. | Alternative spelling of raze. | To alter (a document) by erasing parts of it. | Alternative spelling of raze. | To carve (a line, mark, etc.) into something; to incise, to inscribe; also, to carve lines, marks, etc., into (something); to engrave. | Alternative spelling of raze. | To remove (something) by scraping; also, to cut or shave (something) off. | Alternative spelling of raze. | To rub lightly along the surface of (something); brush against, to graze. | Alternative spelling of raze. | To scrape (something) to remove things from its surface; also, to reduce (something) to small pieces by scraping; to grate. | Alternative spelling of raze. | To shave (someone or part of their body) with a razor, etc. | Alternative spelling of raze. | To cut, scratch, or tear (someone or something) with a sharp object; to lacerate, to slash. | Alternative spelling of raze. | To carve lines, marks, etc., into something. | Alternative spelling of raze. | To graze or rub lightly along a surface. | Alternative spelling of raze. | To penetrate through something; to pierce.

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