RECEIPT - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

RECEIPTAuthored

The Law Mind • 1515 words

Definition

A receipt is a written acknowledgment by one person that they have received money, goods, or other valuable consideration from another. It does not itself impose any affirmative obligation on either party — it is an admission of fact, not a contract or promise. As evidence, a receipt is generally treated as prima facie proof of the payment or delivery it describes, but that proof is rebuttable.

Receipt carries several distinct legal meanings depending on context:

1. Acknowledgment instrument. The classical meaning: a written document confirming that a specified sum of money or item of property has been received. This is the core legal definition and the one most frequently appearing in the historical dictionaries.

2. Clause in a deed. A formal acknowledgment-of-consideration clause appearing in deeds of conveyance — distinct from the operative words of grant. The receipt clause states that the grantor has received the purchase price; it serves as written evidence of payment but does not conclusively bind the parties as to the actual amount paid.

3. Act or fact of receiving. More broadly, the legal condition of having received something — relevant in doctrines such as constructive receipt (tax law), receipt of stolen goods (criminal law), and receipt of notice. Here "receipt" describes a legal event, not a document.

4. Warehouse receipt / document of title. In commercial law, a receipt issued by a bailee (warehouse operator or carrier) that functions as a document of title, giving the holder rights to the goods described. This meaning goes well beyond simple acknowledgment and carries significant transactional consequences under the UCC.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "A written acknowledgment that a specified article or sum of money has been received"; also the act or fact of receiving, a quantity received, and colloquially, documentation proving past actions or events.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "The act of receiving; reception." Also a place of receiving, a recess, and in older usage, capability of receiving. Notably, Webster's 1913 also records a now-archaic meaning of "receipt" as a recipe or formula (for cooking or medicine).

The gap between common and legal meaning is narrow for the document sense but significant in two directions. First, ordinary usage treats a receipt as mere confirmation; legal usage assigns it evidentiary weight as prima facie proof, subject to rebuttal. Second, the warehouse receipt and document-of-title meanings are entirely absent from common usage — a warehouse receipt is not just a slip of paper but a negotiable instrument that can transfer title to goods. Researchers who encounter "receipt" in commercial law contexts should not assume the ordinary-document meaning.

Common Confusion

Receipt vs. release. A receipt acknowledges payment or delivery; it does not discharge an underlying obligation or extinguish a claim. A release does. Historical sources sometimes treat the receipt clause in a deed as though it were a discharge of all claims arising from the transaction — it is not. A full release requires additional operative language.

Receipt vs. acquittance. The terms are used interchangeably in older sources (Burrill equates them), but acquittance more specifically implies a formal discharge of a debt, carrying a stronger implication of finality. In modern usage, acquittance is largely archaic; receipt has survived.

Actual receipt vs. constructive receipt. A legally significant distinction in tax law and commercial law. Actual receipt requires physical or legal possession. Constructive receipt treats a party as having received income or goods when they have the right to demand them, even without physical possession. Conflating the two produces research errors in both income tax and UCC contexts.

Core Elements

For the classical acknowledgment instrument, a legally operative receipt typically reflects:

1. Identity of the parties. Who gave and who received.
2. Description of what was received. Amount of money, description of goods, or nature of the consideration.
3. Date. When receipt occurred.
4. Signature or authentication. The receiving party's acknowledgment.

No particular form is required at common law; a receipt can be informal. But courts treat more specific receipts as stronger prima facie evidence, and vagueness in description can limit evidentiary weight.

Recognized Forms

/SUBTYPES

Warehouse receipt. Issued by a warehouseman acknowledging custody of goods. May be negotiable or non-negotiable. Governed under UCC Article 7 in the United States; functions as a document of title.

Bill of lading. A carrier's receipt for goods accepted for shipment. Also functions as a document of title and a contract of carriage. Treated as a subtype of receipt in admiralty and commercial law sources.

Tax receipt. Acknowledgment of tax payment. In some jurisdictions, a prerequisite for certain transactions or licenses.

Receipt clause in deed. The formal recital in a conveyance acknowledging receipt of consideration. Courts have consistently held this clause is not conclusive as to the amount of consideration paid.

Why It Matters in Research

The central research trap with "receipt" is that the term does double — and sometimes triple — duty across legal domains with very different consequences. A researcher reading a nineteenth-century commercial case must determine whether "receipt" means a simple acknowledgment document, the act of physical possession, or a negotiable warehouse certificate. These meanings produce entirely different legal outcomes and are governed by entirely different bodies of law.

In historical sources, the deed-receipt distinction is often underexplained. Older treatises (and some court opinions) treated the receipt clause in a deed as evidence of the full bargain between parties. Modern courts do not. If you encounter a dispute about whether a grantor was actually paid the stated consideration, the presence of a receipt clause is the starting point, not the ending point.

For tax research, "receipt" requires attention to the constructive receipt doctrine, which is a creature of IRS regulatory interpretation and case law, not the classical common-law meaning. Income is taxable when constructively received, meaning the taxpayer had an unqualified right to demand it. Historical legal dictionaries say nothing useful about this; it is a twentieth-century development that must be traced through regulatory and case sources.

In UCC and admiralty research, warehouse receipts and bills of lading are formal instruments with their own negotiability rules. Researchers should move immediately to Article 7 of the UCC and the relevant encyclopedia entries rather than relying on general dictionary definitions.

The "receipt of stolen goods" context in criminal law is yet another lane: here receipt describes a mental-state-plus-act element of a specific offense, and the relevant question is whether the defendant knowingly received property that was stolen. The document meaning is irrelevant.

Historical Dictionary Support

Black's (both editions) and Burrill converge on the same core definition: a written acknowledgment of receipt of money or goods, functioning as prima facie evidence. Burrill adds the old French root and specifically connects the term to the receipt clause in deeds of conveyance, which is useful context for deed-interpretation research. Both Black's editions cite Krutz v. Craig, 53 Ind. 574, for the proposition that a receipt is "a mere admission of a fact, in writing" without imposing affirmative obligation.

Rapalje & Lawrence reinforces the debt-discharge angle: "an acknowledgment of the receipt of money paid in discharge of a debt." This framing is narrower than Black's and is more characteristic of the English common law tradition, where receipt was most commonly encountered in the context of satisfying a debt.

Bouvier's, as excerpted in the source material, does not directly address receipt in its standard sense — the provided excerpt concerns recapture and naval prize law, suggesting the relevant Bouvier's passage was not captured. Researchers should consult Bouvier's directly for its treatment of the deed receipt clause.

Anderson's excerpt likewise does not address receipt directly; it concerns principals in crime. Anderson's is not a primary source for this term.

A significant gap in all historical dictionaries: none addresses warehouse receipts as documents of title with negotiable character, and none anticipates the constructive receipt doctrine in tax law. For those meanings, historical dictionaries provide no useful guidance and should not be relied upon.

Jurisdictional Note

The document-of-title function of warehouse receipts and bills of lading is governed by UCC Article 7 in all U.S. states that have adopted it, with some variation in enactment. Outside the United States, equivalent instruments are governed by different statutory regimes. The constructive receipt doctrine is federal income tax law with no direct state-law equivalent in most jurisdictions, though state tax codes sometimes incorporate analogous concepts.

Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

Constructive Receipt Doctrine — The Law Mind Tax Encyclopedia (tax_18)
Bills of Lading — Document of Title, Receipt, and Contract of Carriage — The Law Mind Military, Veterans & Admiralty Law Encyclopedia (military_50)
UCC Article 2 — Documents of Title (Bills of Lading, Warehouse Receipts) — The Law Mind Contracts & Commercial Law Encyclopedia (contracts_130)

RECEIPTmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

A receipt is the written acknowledgment of the receipt of money, or a thing of value, without containing any af- firmative obligation upon either party to it; a mere admission of a fact, in writing. 53 Ind. 574. RECEIVERS, ETC. A receipt may be defined to be such a written acknowledgment by one person of his having re- ceived money from another as will be prima facie evidence of that fact in a court of law. 10 Ohio, 75. Also the act or transaction of accepting or taking anything delivered. In old practice. Admission of a party to defend a suit, as of a wife on default of the husband in certain cases. Litt. § 668; Co. Litt. 3526.

RECEIPTmain

Rapalje & Lawrence • 1883

(1070) pools, conduits, &c., to the intent the same shall remain void, or that they shall have way in any of the said grounds; or to destroy the deer in any park, fish in ponds, coneys in any warren, dove-houses, &c.; or to burn sacks of corn; or to abate rents, or prices of victuals, &c. Cowell. - 1. Receipt generally means an acknowledgment of the receipt of money paid in discharge of a debt. (See ACCOUNTABLE RECEIPT.) A receipt under hand alone is in general only primâ facie evidence, but a receipt under seal amounts to an estoppel, and is conclusive. Best Ev. 521. 22. Formerly, in certain real and mixed actions, if a man seised of land in right of his wife was sued in respect of the land and made default, the wife might be received or admitted as a feme sole to defend her right. This was called "receipt" or "defensio juris." Co. Litt. 352b et seq. RECEIPT, (defined). 53 Ind. 561; 10 Ohio 75. (what is). 8 Car. & P. 180. (what is not). 9 Humph. (Tenn.) 55; 1 Exch. 131. (effect of). 1 Pet. (U. S.) C. C. 182;

RECEIPTmain

Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890

ing, advising, or assisting in the commission of a crime. Each person present consenting to the commission of the offense, and doing any act which is either an ingredient in the crime or immediately connected with or leading to its commission.1 A principal in the first degree is he that is the actor or absolute perpetrator of the crime. A principal in the second degree is he who is present, aiding and abetting the Primæ impressionis. Of the first imfact to be done.2 pression, q. υ. In treason and trespasses all participants are prinPRINCIPAL.4 Leading; highest in imcipals. See further ACCESSARY; AID, 1; PRESENCE. portance. See PRIMARY. 1. The original debt or sum loaned: as, in principal and interest. See INTEREST, 2 (3). 2. The more worthy; opposed to accessory, appurtenant, incident, secondary, inferior, qq. v. Applied to estates, rights, and obligations. See CHALLENGE, 4. 3. The person primarily liable; the original debtor; opposed to bail, surety, qq. v. 4. The employer of an agent or attorney; opposed to agent, q. v. One primarily and ordinarily concerned, and who is not an accessary or auxiliary; as, the person receiving goods or employing workmen for his own advantage. An "agent" is a person employed to manage the affairs of another; as, he who receives or employs workmen for another. Vice-principal. A servant to whom his master deputes general supervision of his work, with the power of appointment and dismissal; a deputy master. Especially is he a vice-principal who is engaged to manage a business distinct from the principal's regular occupation. The word "manager," as a synonym, is somewhat ambiguous. See MANAGER, 1. 5. The chief actor in a crime; opposed to accessary. Either the chief actor, that is, the actual perpetrator of the crime, or else he is present aiding and abetting the fact to be done.7 One present, consenting, aiding, procurTroy v. Evans, 97 U. S. 3 (1877); ib. 267, cases. • Collins v. Gilbert, 94 U. S. 754 (1876), cases. • Commissioners v. Clark, 94 U. S. 285 (1876), cases. L. principalis, taking the first place; chief. * [Adams v. Whittlesey, 3 Conn. 567 (1821), Hosmer, Chief Justice. • Murphy v. Smith, 19 C. B. N. S. *366 (1865); Gallagher v. Piper, 16 id. *669 (1864); Dwyer v. American Express Co., 55 Wis. 456 (1882); Foley v. Chicago, &c. R. Co., 64 Iowa, 650 (1884); 1 Shearm. & R. Neg. §§ 23031 (1888). [1 Hale, Pl. Cr. 615, 618. jury that the will was so read, or that the contents were known to the testator.¹ 2. In ancient pleading, see OYER. 1. Taking or accepting a thing delivered, usually money, but may be any personalty. Receipts: moneys received. See EARNINGS. 2. Such written acknowledgment by one person of his having received money from another as will be prima facie evidence of that fact in a court of law.4 An acknowledgment of payment or delivery. May contain a contract to perform something in relation to the thing delivered. Receipt in full. A payment of money, or a delivery of other property, in complete discharge of a demand. Receipt on account. A payment or delivery of money or other property in part fulfillment of a contract. Simple receipt. A bare acknowledgment of the payment of money, or of the delivery of personal property of any kind, to the person who signs the receipt. A receipt in full operates to defeat any further claim for a debt, unless it was obtained under such circumstances of mistake, accident, surprise, or fraud as would authorize a court of equity to set it aside. A receipt which simply acknowledges a payment or delivery is prima facie, not conclusive, evidence of the 1 [3 Bl. Com. 310. 2 Fain v. Cornett, 25 Ga. 186 (1858). 3[3 Steph. Com. 539; People v. Page, 1 Idaho, 194 (1868). 4 Kegg v. State, 10 Ohio, 79 (1840), Grimke, J. 5 The Missouri v. Webb, 9 Mo. 194 (1845). • Aborn v. Rathbone, 54 Conn. 446 (1887).

RECEIPTn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

The act of receiving; reception. "At the receipt of your letter." Shak. Reception, as an act of hospitality. [Obs.] Thy kind receipt of me. Chapman. Capability of receiving; capacity. [Obs.] It has become a place of great receipt. Evelyn. Place of receiving. [Obs.] He saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom. Matt. ix. 9. Hence, a recess; a retired place. [Obs.] "In a retired receipt together lay." Chapman. A formulary according to the directions of which things are to be taken or combined; a recipe; as, a receipt for making sponge cake. She had a receipt to make white hair black. Sir T. Browne. A writing acknowledging the taking or receiving of goods delivered; an acknowledgment of money paid. That which is received; that which comes in, in distinction from what is expended, paid out, sent away, and the like; -- usually in the plural; as, the receipts amounted to a thousand dollars. Cross receipts. See under Gross, a.

RECEIPTv.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

To give a receipt for; as, to receipt goods delivered by a sheriff. To put a receipt on, as by writing or stamping; as, to receipt a bill.

RECEIPTv.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

To give a receipt, as for money paid.

receiptnoun

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.

The act of receiving, or the fact of having been received. | The fact of having received a blow, injury etc. | A quantity or amount received; takings. | A written acknowledgment that a specified article or sum of money has been received. | (A piece of) evidence, documentation, etc. to prove one's past actions, accomplishments, etc. | (A piece of) evidence (e.g. documentation or screen captures) of past wrongdoing. | A recipe, instructions, prescription. | A receptacle. | A revenue office. | Reception, as an act of hospitality. | Capability of receiving; capacity. | A recess; a retired place.

receiptverb

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

To give or write a receipt (for something). | To put a receipt on, as by writing or stamping; to mark a bill as having been paid.

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