RECITE

9 definitions found across Law Mind sources

RECITEAuthored
The Law Mind • 1038 words
Definition
To state, in a written legal instrument, facts connected with its creation, the circumstances surrounding its making, or the reasons for its execution. The word encompasses two related but distinct acts in legal drafting: (1) setting forth background facts or contextual information that precede the operative provisions of an instrument, as in the recitals clause of a deed or contract; and (2) quoting, summarizing, or incorporating the substance of another instrument or legal document within a new one — as when a deed recites the terms of the underlying judgment or execution that authorized it. In pleading, to recite is to set forth or allege matter by way of narrative or background, as distinguished from the direct operative words of the pleading. Recite does not require verbatim reproduction. Where a statute or rule requires that an instrument recite certain information, courts have consistently held that stating the substance of that information satisfies the requirement; word-for-word copying is not compelled.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To repeat aloud a passage, poem, or text previously memorized, often before an audience; also to list or enumerate items. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To repeat something already prepared or written down; to deliver from recollection or written document; to rehearse; also, to tell over in particulars, to narrate or relate. The common meaning focuses on oral delivery from memory or prepared text — a student reciting a poem, a speaker rehearsing lines. The legal meaning inverts the emphasis: it is almost exclusively written, and it is not about repeating memorized material but about stating facts or incorporating external content into a document for legal effect. Where ordinary usage suggests performance, legal usage suggests documentation.
Common Confusion
RECITE vs. RECITAL: These terms are closely linked and frequently treated as interchangeable, but they occupy different grammatical and functional positions. To recite is the act; a recital is the clause or passage that results from that act. A deed may recite the consideration paid (the verb); the resulting clause is a recital (the noun). Researchers should note that historical dictionaries tend to define recite by reference to the entry for RECITAL, so consulting both entries is necessary for a complete picture. RECITE vs. INCORPORATE BY REFERENCE: Reciting the contents of another instrument within a document is related to, but not the same as, incorporation by reference. Recitation states or summarizes; incorporation by reference makes the external document a legal part of the new instrument. A recital of a prior deed in a new conveyance describes context; incorporation by reference would bind the parties to the prior deed's terms as if restated in full.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working with historical deeds, conveyances, and pleadings will encounter recite and its derivatives with high frequency. Several practical points matter: First, the substantive-versus-verbatim distinction is legally significant and historically contested. Nineteenth-century Kansas and Ohio decisions addressed directly whether a statutory requirement that a sheriff's deed "recite" the execution meant literal copying or mere substance. The answer — substance suffices — affects how researchers evaluate the validity of historical instruments that may appear incomplete on their face. Second, in older pleading practice, "reciting" matter in a pleading (rather than directly averring it) had procedural consequences. Matter recited was sometimes treated as admitted background rather than as a direct allegation, affecting traverse, demurrer, and issue-joinder. Researchers reading historical pleadings should pay attention to whether facts appear in a reciting posture or as direct operative averments. Third, the function of recitals within instruments carries evidentiary weight. Under the doctrine of estoppel by deed, recitals in a deed may bind the parties and their privies; parties are estopped from denying facts recited in instruments they have executed. This connection between the act of reciting and legal estoppel makes the term consequential beyond mere drafting formality. Fourth, the word appears in statutory interpretation contexts: when a statute requires that an officer or instrument "recite" specified information, the judicial construction of that word — and whether strict or substantial compliance is required — can determine the instrument's validity.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (both editions) defines recite consistently: to state in a written instrument facts connected with its inception, or reasons for its being made. The second edition adds the second sense — to quote or set forth the words or contents of some other instrument or document — and cites Hart v. Baltimore & O. R. Co., 6 W. Va. 348 as support. Bouvier's Law Dictionary is the most practically useful source here. It contributes the substantive-versus-verbatim gloss drawn from Kansas and Ohio authority, establishing that recite means to state the substance, not to reproduce word-for-word. It also flags the pleading context, noting that in pleading, to recite is to set matter out narratively rather than operatively. Bouvier directs the reader to the RECITAL entry for fuller treatment, which is the appropriate cross-reference. Anderson's Dictionary of Law does not provide a usable entry for this term — the text retrieved is from an unrelated entry (Receiver's Certificate) and should be disregarded. The gap in Anderson's coverage is not significant given the consistency between Black's and Bouvier's. The historical sources are in agreement on core meaning and add up to a coherent picture: recite is a drafting term of art, confined to written instruments, focused on stating background facts or incorporating external content, and satisfied by substantive rather than literal reproduction.
Jurisdictional Note
The substantive-compliance interpretation of recite in statutory contexts — that stating the substance of required information satisfies a mandate to "recite" it — appears broadly consistent across American jurisdictions, though the specific threshold for adequacy varies. Researchers working with statutory deed forms, execution requirements, or officer's certificates should check applicable state authority, as some jurisdictions imposed stricter formal requirements at particular periods.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See RECITAL for the noun form and its treatment as a clause in deeds, contracts, and statutory instruments, including the evidentiary and estoppel consequences of recitals.
Related Terms
Recital — Estoppel by deed — Averment — Allegation — Incorporation by reference — Preamble — Whereas clause — Operative words — Pleading — Deed
RECITEmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
To state in a written instru- ment facts connected with its inception, or reasons for its being made.
RECITEmain
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910
To state in a written instru ment facts connected with its inception, or reasons for its being made. Also to quote or set forth the words or the contents of somé other instrument or document; as, to ‘“recite” a statute. See Hart v. Baltimore & O. R. Co., 6 W. Va. 348.
RECITEmain
Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890
is absolutely necessary to its preservation and use, as contemplated by his appointment.¹ He has no extra-territorial power of official action. If he seeks to be recognized in another jurisdiction, it is to take the fund there out of it, without such court having any control of his subsequent action in respect to it.2 Receiver's certificate. A non-negotiable evidence of debt, or debenture, issued by, authority of a court of chancery, as a first lien upon the property of a debtor corporation in the hands of a receiver.3 The power in a court of equity to appoint managing receivers of such property as a railroad, when taken under its charge as a trust fund for the payment of incumbrances, and to authorize such receivers to raise money necessary for the preservation and management of the property, and make the same chargeable as a lien thereon for its repayment, cannot at this day be seriously disputed. It is a part of that jurisdiction by which it is its duty to protect and preserve the trust funds in its hands. It is, undoubtedly, a power to be exercised with great caution; and, if possible, with the consent or acquiescence of the parties interested in the fund.4 Many circumstances may exist to make it necessary for the receiver to pay pre-existing debts of certain classes out of the earnings of the receivership, or even out of the corpus of the property, with a priority of lien. Yet the discretion allowing this should be exercised with great care.5 The court, in order to preserve the road, and, perhaps, to complete inconsiderable portions of it, and put it into a condition for the transaction of business, may make money borrowed on certificates a lien on the property superior to that of the first mortgage. But, in order to complete an unfinished road, except under extraordinary circumstances, the power of the court ought not to be exercised to enable the trustee to borrow money on certificates and create a paramount lien therefor. It is better to reorganize the enterprise on the basis of existing mortgages as stock, or an equivalent, and by a new mortgage, with a lien superior to the old, raise the money required without asking the court to engage in railroad building." 1 Cowdrey v. Galveston, &c. R. Co., 93 U. S. 354 (1875). 2 Booth v. Clark, 17 How. 338-39 (1854), cases. On suing in foreign jurisdictions without leave of the appointing court, see 21 Am. Law Rev. 551-70 (1887), cases. 3 Beach, Receivers, § 379; ib. 380-402, cases. See also, generally, High, Rec., §§ 398 c-g, cases; 3 Wood, Railw. Law, 1675-77, cases. 4 Wallace v. Loomis, 97 U. S. 162 (1877), Bradley, J. Quoted, 106 id. 310, infra. * Miltenberger v. Logansport R. Co., 106 U. S. 311 (1882), Blatchford, J. * Stanton v. Alabama, &c. R. Co., 2 Woods, 506 (1875); Kennedy v. St. Paul, &c. R. Co., 2 Dill. 448 (1873). Shaw v. Little Rock, &c. R. Co., 100 U. S. 605, 612 (1879), Waite, C. J. In foreclosing mortgages, see 26 Cent. Law J. 543-46 (1888), cases; points of practice, 19 Am. Law Rev. 400-23 (1885), cases; his compensation, Where receivers issue and dispose of certificates contrary to orders, the certificates are invalid, even in the hands of a subsequent bona fide taker for value. 1 To set forth in writing facts explanatory of a transaction, — its nature, or the reasons for it. In pleading, "reciting a statute" is quoting or stating its contents. 2 Recital. The statement, in a deed or other instrument, of the reason for executing it, or of its relation to other instruments. Misrecital. An erroneous recital. Constitutes part of the premises of a deed. Usually begins with "whereas," and sets forth such other deeds, agreements, or matters of fact as are necessary to explain the reasons upon which the present transaction is founded.3 Particular recitals in a deed may operate as an estoppel upon the parties thereto, and their privies; not so general recitals. But no recital can bind innocent third parties. A recital of purchase-money is always open to dispute. 4 It is laid down generally that a recital of one deed in another binds the parties, and those who claim under them. Technically speaking, it operates as an estoppel, and binds parties and privies, - privies in blood, privies in estate, and privies in law. But it does not bind mere strangers, or those who claim by title paramount to the deed; nor persons claiming by an adverse title or from the parties by title anterior to the date of the reciting deed. But there are cases in which such a recital may be used as evidence even against strangers. If, for instance, there be a recital of a lease in a deed of release, and in a suit against a stranger the title under the release comes in question, there the recital is not per se evidence of the existence of the lease. But if the existence and loss of the lease be established by other evidence, the recital is admissible as secondary proof, in the absence of more perfect evidence, to establish the contents of the lease; and if the transaction be ancient, and possession has long been held under such release, and is not otherwise to be accounted for, the recital will of itself materially fortify the presumption, from lapse of time Central Trust Co. v. Wabash, &c. R. Co., 32 F. R. 187 (1887). See generally Union Trust Co. v. Illinois Midland R. Co., 117 U. S. 434 (1866), Blatchford, J.; 23 Cent. Law J. 340 (1886), cases; 3 Law Quar. Rev. 429-45 (1887), cases; 100 U. S. 153; 3 Woods, 316, 514, 527, 691; 5 Dill. 519, 476; 60 Ala. 331; 16 Wend. 421; 71 N. Y. 401; 12 R. I. 497; 11 Heisk. 210, 412. Stanton v. Alabama, &c. R. Co., 31 F. R. 585 (1887); Same v. Same, 2 Woods, 512 (1875), cases. 2 Gould, Pl., 4 ed., p. 46, note; 6 W. Va. 648. 3 [2 Bl. Com. 298. 42 Whart. Ev. §§ 1039-43; 1 Greenl. Ev. §§ 23, 26; 2 Devlin, Deeds, §§ 992-1009.
RECITEv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To repeat, as something already prepared, written down, committed to memory, or the like; to deliver from a written or printed document, or from recollection; to rehearse; as, to recite the words of an author, or of a deed or covenant. To tell over; to go over in particulars; to relate; to narrate; as, to recite past events; to recite the particulars of a voyage. To rehearse, as a lesson to an instructor. To state in or as a recital. See Recital, 5.
RECITEv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To repeat, pronounce, or rehearse, as before an audience, something prepared or committed to memory; to rehearse a lesson learned.
RECITEn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
A recital. [Obs.] Sir W. Temple.
reciteverb
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC 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 repeat aloud (some passage, poem or other text previously memorized, or in front of one's eyes), often before an audience. | To list or enumerate something. | To deliver a recitation.
reciteverb
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC 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 re-cite (which is the preferred spelling, to avoid needless homography).

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