REGULAR - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

REGULARAuthored

The Law Mind • 1276 words

Definition

In law, "regular" means conforming to an applicable rule, established procedure, or governing standard — as opposed to that which is irregular, exceptional, or outside the rule. It functions primarily as a modifier, and its legal significance derives almost entirely from the noun it qualifies. A regular election differs from a special election; a regular session differs from an extraordinary session; a regular indorsement differs from a qualified one; a regular meeting of a corporate body differs from a special or emergency meeting called outside the normal schedule.

The term carries two related but distinct senses in legal usage:

1. Conformity with procedural rule. An act, proceeding, or instrument is "regular" when it follows the prescribed form, timing, or method required by law or governing authority. A regular process is process issued in the proper manner through the proper channel. A regular indorsement is one made in the standard, unqualified form. In this sense, "regular" signals validity and compliance.

2. Ordinary or scheduled, as opposed to special or extraordinary. A regular term of court, a regular session of a legislature, or a regular meeting of a board is one that occurs on the schedule established by rule or statute — not one convened in response to a particular circumstance. In this sense, "regular" signals routine recurrence rather than exception.

These two senses often overlap. A regular meeting is both one held at the scheduled time and one held in conformity with the rules governing such meetings.

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Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Regularly, on a regular basis.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Conformed to a rule; agreeable to an established rule, law, principle, or type; normal; symmetrical. Governed by rule or rules; steady or uniform in course, practice, or occurrence; not subject to unexplained or irrational variation.

The common and legal meanings are closely related, but the legal usage is more exacting. In ordinary speech, "regular" often means simply habitual or frequent — a person's "regular doctor" or their "regular coffee order." In legal usage, "regular" is a term of art anchored to specific rules, statutes, or governing instruments. Whether something is "regular" in a legal proceeding is not a matter of habit or frequency but of compliance with a defined standard. Regularity, once established, often carries presumptive legal weight: courts applying the presumption of regularity assume that official acts were performed correctly absent specific evidence to the contrary.

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Common Confusion

"Regular" is frequently contrasted with "special" or "extraordinary" in procedural contexts, but researchers should not assume these contrasts are uniform. What one jurisdiction or governing document calls a "special session" another may call an "extraordinary session" or "called session." Similarly, the line between a "regular" and "special" assessment in HOA or municipal finance law is governed by the specific instrument or statute involved, not by a universal definition of "regular." The word signals a category; the category's contents must be found in the applicable rule.

Researchers should also note that "regular" does not mean "correct" or "lawful" in all contexts — it means conforming to the applicable procedural framework. A proceeding can be formally regular yet still be challenged on substantive grounds.

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Why It Matters in Research

Because "regular" functions almost exclusively as a modifier, searching for it in isolation produces noise. Effective corpus research targets the compound phrase: regular session, regular meeting, regular election, regular indorsement, regular process, regular term, regular deposit, regular clergy. Each compound has its own body of doctrine.

The presumption of regularity is a significant downstream concept. Courts presume that public officials, judicial officers, and governmental bodies acted regularly — in conformity with their governing rules — unless the record affirmatively shows otherwise. This presumption shifts burdens and affects appellate review. Researchers tracing challenges to official action need to locate where that presumption was invoked or rebutted.

In tax court practice, the distinction between a Regular case and a Small Tax Case (S case) is procedural and jurisdictional in effect: S cases have a simplified procedure but their decisions are not precedential and cannot be appealed. The word "regular" in this context carries significant strategic weight for litigants and researchers alike. The Law Mind Tax Encyclopedia entries (tax_183, tax_147) address this distinction directly.

In HOA and real property assessment law, "regular" assessments (periodic, scheduled, established by governing documents) are distinguished from "special" assessments (levied for particular purposes or projects). The distinction affects lien priority in jurisdictions with super-lien statutes. Researchers working in this area should consult realestate_74 and then trace the specific language of the governing declaration and applicable state statute.

Historical legal sources use "regular" in contexts — particularly regarding clergy, navigation, and commercial paper — that have either shifted in meaning or become obsolete. The compound "regular clergy" (those bound by a religious rule, as opposed to secular or diocesan clergy) appears in older sources and has virtually no modern legal relevance outside historical research. "Regular navigation" and "regular line" language in older maritime and enrollment law refers to scheduled commercial routes and has been substantially superseded by modern maritime regulatory frameworks.

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Historical Dictionary Support

Black's Law Dictionary (both editions) defines "regular" with deliberate simplicity: "according to rule," contrasted either with that which violates the rule or with that which constitutes an exception. The 2nd edition adds case references — Zulich v. Bowman, 42 Pa. 87, and Myers v. Rasback, 4 How. Prac. (N.Y.) 85 — and then points researchers to compound entries for regular clergy, regular deposit, regular election, regular indorsement, regular meeting, regular navigation, regular process, regular session, and regular term. This structure confirms that the historical dictionaries treated "regular" as primarily a gateway term, not a standalone doctrine.

Anderson's Dictionary of Law does not appear to have provided a clean definitional entry for "regular" itself — the source material supplied concerns registry and enrollment of vessels, which reflects the "regular navigation" or "regular line" compound rather than the root term. This gap is itself instructive: Anderson apparently addressed "regular" through its compounds rather than in the abstract, consistent with how the term actually functions in legal analysis.

No significant divergence exists among these sources on the core meaning. All three are consistent with the common-law baseline: regularity means conformity with governing rule. What the historical dictionaries do not address — and where modern research is most active — is the procedural and presumptive weight that "regular" carries in administrative law, tax court practice, and HOA assessment contexts.

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Jurisdictional Note

The specific content of what makes a proceeding, meeting, or assessment "regular" varies by jurisdiction and is governed by the applicable statute, charter, bylaw, or court rule. There is no uniform federal definition. State corporation law, HOA statutes, and legislative procedure rules each define their own baseline for regularity. Researchers should always anchor the term to the governing instrument for the matter at hand.

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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

Tax Court Regular vs Small Cases (The Law Mind Tax Encyclopedia, tax_183 and tax_147)
HOA Assessments — Regular, Special, and Lien Priority (Super-Lien Statutes) (The Law Mind Real Estate Transactions & Construction Encyclopedia, realestate_74)

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REGULARmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

According to rule; as dis- tinguished from that which violates the rule or follows no rule. According to rule; as opposed to that which constitutes an exception to the rule, or is not within the rule.

REGULARmain

Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910

According to rule; as distinguished from that which violates the rule or follows no rule. According to rule; as opposed to that which constitutes an exception to the rule or is not within the rule. See Zulich v. Bowman, 42 Pa. 87; Myers v. Rasback, 4 How. Prac. (N. Y.) 85. As to regular “Clergy,” “Deposit, ” “Hlection,” “Indorsement,” “Meeting,” ‘“Navigation,” “Process,” ‘Session,’ and “Term,” see those titles. Regulariter non valet pactum de re mea non alienanda. Co. Litt. 223. It is a@ rule that a compact not to alienate my property is not binding.

REGULARmain

Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890

mortgage, in legal effect, is equivalent to notice by refer to vessels which constitute lines, rather than to the registry. Registry of vessels. The purpose is to declare the nationality of vessels engaged in trade with foreign countries, and to enable these vessels to assert that nationality. nor The purpose of an "enrollment" is to evidence the national character of vessels engaged in the coasting trade or home traffic and to enable them to procure a coasting license. Neither "registry" "record" is usually applied to an enrollment. This distriction is observed throughout the legislation of Congress. The general statute on the subject of registry is the act of December 31, 1792; the general statute on enrollment, the act of February 18, 1793.2 Registry of voters. In statutes relating to elections, "registered voters" uniformly refers to persons whose names are placed upon the registration books provided by law as the sole record or memorial of the duly qualified voters. 3 "Registration," in its ordinary, generic sense, when applied to voters, means any list, register, or schedule containing names, the being on which list, register, or schedule constitutes a prerequisite to voting. See RECORD; TRADE-MARK. 1. Following the rule; according to rule or law; observing the prescribed course : as, a regular - deposit, judgment, process or other proceeding. 2. Usual; general; not special: as, a regular - election, session.7 In the expression "regular navigation," "regular" may be used in contradistinction to "occasional" and 1 Patterson v. De la Ronde, 8 Wall. 300 (168), Field, J. In English law, 2 Law Quar. Rev. 324-46 (1986); Roman Dutch law, ib. 347 (1886). 2 R. S. §§ 4131, 4312: The Mohawk, 3 Wall. 571 (1865), Miller, J.; Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 214 (1824). * Chalmers v. Funk, 76 Va. 719 (1882), Staples, J. Appointment of Supervisors, ante. See generally 25 Am. Law Reg. 641-43 (1886), cases. 4 Bl. Com. 158; 1 Russ. Cr. 169. • L. regula, a rule. See State v. Conrades, 45 Mo. 47 (1869); Bethel v. Commissioners, 60 Me. 538 (1872); 72 N. C. 163. vessels which are regular in the sense of being properly documented. Irregular. Not in compliance with the rule; regardless of rule or law; also, exceptional, special. "Irregular process" is usually applied to process not issued in strict conformity with the law, whether the defect renders the process absolutely void or only voidable.2 Irregularity. Non-adherence to the prescribed rule or proceeding; as, by omitting something necessary for the due and orderly conducting of a suit, or by ordering it in an unseasonable time or improper manner. 3 See ERRONEOUS; VOID; PRESUMPTION. Regularly. "Regularly employed" in a trade does not mean continuously so employed.4 Regulate. To lay down the rule by which a thing shall be done; to prescribe the rule by which a business or trade shall be conducted. Power "to regulate commerce" is the power to prescribe the rules by which it shall be governed, that is, the conditions upon which it shall be conducted; to determine when it shall be free and when subject to duties or other exactions.5 "To regulate the practice" of a court by rules means to prescribe the manner of conducting proceedings, the time for pleadings, etc. Power to regulate the use of the streets of a city implies power to prohibit their use under proper circumstances.7 Power to regulate the sale of liquor may embrace entire prohibition of sales to certain classes, such as minors. See further PROHIBITION. Regulation. In an act of Congress, "regulations" of a department means general rules relating to the subject upon which the department acts, made by the head thereof under some act giving the regulations the force of law.9 General power to enact "sanitary regulations" includes power to prohibit sales of adulterated milk.10 See RULES AND REGULATIONS; TEMPORARY. The Steamer Smidt, 16 Op. Att. Gen. 277 (1879). 2 Doe dem. Cooper v. Harter, 2 Ind. 253 (1850): Woodcock v. Bennett, 1 Cow. 735 (1823). Bowman v. Tallman, 2 Robt. 634 (1864): 1 Tidd's Pr. 512; Baldw. 246; 31 Cal. 625; 43 Mo. 317; 40 Wis. 365; 3 Chitty, Gen. Pr. 509. 4 Wilson v. Gray, 127 Mass. 99 (1879). 5 Gloucester Ferry Co. v. Pennsylvania, 114 U. S. 203 (1885), Field, J. Vanatta v. Anderson, 3 Binn. 423 (1811). Attorney-General v. Boston, 142 Mass. 203 (1886). • Williams v. State, 48 Ind. 308 (1874). • Harvey v. United States, 3 Ct. Cl. 42 (1867), Loring, J. 10 Polinsky v. People, 73 N. Y. 65 (1878).

REGULARa.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

Conformed to a rule; agreeable to an established rule, law, principle, or type, or to established customary forms; normal; symmetrical; as, a regular verse in poetry; a regular piece of music; a regular verb; regular practice of law or medicine; a regular building. Governed by rule or rules; steady or uniform in course, practice, or occurence; not subject to unexplained or irrational variation; returning at stated intervals; steadily pursued; orderlly; methodical; as, the regular succession of day and night; regular habits. Constituted, selected, or conducted in conformity with established usages, rules, or discipline; duly authorized; permanently organized; as, a regular meeting; a regular physican; a regular nomination; regular troops. Belonging to a monastic order or community; as, regular clergy, in distinction dfrom the secular clergy. Thorough; complete; unmitigated; as, a regular humbug. [Colloq.] Having all the parts of the same kind alike in size and shape; as, a regular flower; a regular sea urchin. Same as Isometric. Regular polygon (Geom.), a plane polygon which is both equilateral and equiangular.  -- Regular polyhedron (Geom.), a polyhedron whose faces are equal regular polygons. There are five regular polyhedrons, -- the tetrahedron, the hexahedron, or cube, the octahedron, the dodecahedron, and the icosahedron.  -- Regular sales (Stock Exchange), sales of stock deliverable on the day after the transaction.  -- Regular troops, troops of a standing or permanent army; -- opposed to militia.

REGULARn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

A member of any religious order or community who has taken the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and who has been solemnly recognized by the church. Bp. Fitzpatrick. A soldier belonging to a permanent or standing army; -- chiefly used in the plural.

regularadv

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.

Regularly, on a regular basis.

regularadj

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Bound by religious rule; belonging to a monastic or religious order (often as opposed to secular). | Having a constant pattern; showing evenness of form or appearance. | Both equilateral and equiangular; having all sides of the same length, and all (corresponding) angles of the same size | Whose faces are all congruent regular polygons, equally inclined to each other. | Demonstrating a consistent set of rules; showing order, evenness of operation or occurrence. | Of a moon or other satellite: following a relatively close and prograde orbit with little inclination or eccentricity. | Well-behaved, orderly; restrained (of a lifestyle etc.). | Happening at constant (especially short) intervals. | Following a set or common pattern; according to the general rules of a given language. | Having the expected characteristics or appearances; normal, ordinary, standard. | Permanently organised; being part of a set professional body of troops. | Having bowel movements or menstrual periods at constant intervals in the expected way. | Exemplary; excellent example of; utter, downright. | Having all the parts of the same kind alike in size and shape. | Isometric. | Riding with the left foot forward. | Such that every set in its domain is both outer regular and inner regular. | Noetherian and such that the minimal number of generators of the maximal ideal is equal to the Krull dimension of the ring. | Such that the local ring at every point is regular. | A von Neumann regular: such that every left module (over the given ring) is flat.

regularnoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

A member of the British Army (as opposed to a member of the Territorial Army or Reserve). | A frequent, routine visitor to an establishment. | A member of the armed forces or police force. | A member of the armed forces or police force. | Synonym of regular serviceman; a member of the Singapore Armed Forces, Police Force or Civil Defence Force who has signed on, i.e., chosen to work full-time beyond their required length of national service. | A frequent customer, client or business partner. | A character who appears in every episode of a TV series; a member of the regular cast. | A coffee with one cream and one sugar. | Anything that is normal or standard. | A member of a religious order who has taken the three ordinary vows. | A number for each year, giving, added to the concurrents, the number of the day of the week on which the Paschal full moon falls. | A fixed number for each month serving to ascertain the day of the week, or the age of the moon, on the first day of any month.

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