RELEASE

10 definitions found across Law Mind sources

RELEASEAuthored
The Law Mind • 1471 words
Definition
RELEASE has three distinct legal meanings, each operating in a different doctrinal context. 1. Contracts / Obligations. A release is a written instrument by which one party (the releasor) relinquishes a claim, right, or cause of action against another (the releasee). It is a form of discharge: the underlying obligation is extinguished, not merely suspended. A release differs from a covenant not to sue in that a release operates immediately and in rem — it destroys the claim itself — whereas a covenant not to sue is a personal promise that leaves the underlying right technically alive while barring its enforcement. In settlement practice, releases are the standard vehicle for resolving civil disputes, and their scope (what claims are covered, against whom, and for what time period) is the central drafting question. 2. Property / Conveyancing. A release is the relinquishment of an interest in real or personal property to the person who already holds the greater estate or has possession. The classic common-law form conveyed a remainder, reversion, or right of entry to the party in possession, enlarging or confirming that party's title without the need for livery of seisin. This conveyancing use is largely obsolete in modern American practice but appears frequently in historical deeds and title abstracts. 3. Criminal Procedure / Detention. Release is the discharge of a person from custody, whether unconditionally or subject to conditions (bail, recognizance, supervision). A pretrial release order governs a defendant's liberty between arrest and trial. Post-conviction release may be conditional (parole, supervised release) or unconditional (expiration of sentence). ---
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To set free; to allow to escape or leave confinement; to make something available to the public (a film, a product). Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "To let loose again; to set free from restraint, confinement, or servitude; to give liberty to." Also: "To relieve from something that confines, burdens, or oppresses." The common meaning centers on physical freedom. In law, release most often has nothing to do with physical liberty — it is a formal extinguishment of a legal claim or property interest, effected by written instrument, and governed by rules about consideration, scope, and capacity that have no equivalent in ordinary usage. A researcher encountering "release" in a civil case file is almost always dealing with meaning (1) above, not the everyday idea of letting someone go. ---
Common Confusion
Release vs. Covenant Not to Sue. These are functionally similar but legally distinct. A release extinguishes the claim; a covenant not to sue leaves the claim intact but bars the promisee from being sued on it. The distinction matters most in joint-tortfeasor contexts: at common law, releasing one joint tortfeasor released all others, because the claim itself was destroyed. A covenant not to sue avoided that result. Many jurisdictions have modified or abolished the common-law rule by statute, but the distinction still appears in older instruments and is a recurring trap in historical research and title work. Release vs. Discharge. Discharge is the broader category; release is one species of discharge. Other forms of discharge include payment, accord and satisfaction, novation, and merger. Using the terms interchangeably in historical sources is common but imprecise. Release vs. Waiver. A release typically requires consideration and is contractual; a waiver may be unilateral and requires only intentional relinquishment of a known right. Some courts treat the terms as synonyms in particular contexts, which creates inconsistency in case law. ---
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES General release: Releases all claims, known and unknown, arising out of a defined relationship or set of events. Broad scope language ("any and all claims") is the hallmark. Courts scrutinize whether unknown claims are clearly covered. Specific release: Releases only identified claims. Narrower, less likely to be construed to extinguish claims the releasor did not contemplate. Mutual release: Both parties release each other simultaneously. Standard in settlement of bilateral disputes. Partial release: In secured lending, the release of a specific piece of collateral from a lien while the loan remains outstanding. Common in real estate development where parcels are sold off from a larger mortgaged tract. Conditional release: Criminal procedure usage. Release from custody subject to conditions (reporting, travel restrictions, electronic monitoring). Violation may result in revocation and return to custody. Statutory release: Some jurisdictions use "release" as a term of art in specific statutory schemes (e.g., environmental law, where a "release" of hazardous substances triggers regulatory obligations — a usage entirely distinct from the private-law meaning). ---
Why It Matters in Research
The most important research trap is scope. In settlement agreements and employment separations, the enforceability and coverage of a release — especially against unknown claims — is the central litigation question. Pre-1980s instruments often lack the explicit "known and unknown claims" language that modern drafters consider standard; courts in those periods split on whether general language swept in claims the releasor did not know existed. Researchers working in employment law should note that releases of ADEA claims have specific statutory requirements under the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act that do not apply to other claims — a distinction that does not appear in older sources at all. In property research, the conveyancing release appears in older title chains, particularly in colonial and early American deeds. Rapalje & Lawrence preserves definitions oriented toward this common-law conveyancing context, which helps interpret historical instruments but can mislead researchers who assume the same term carries the same meaning in a 19th-century deed as in a 20th-century settlement agreement. In criminal procedure, "release" and "supervised release" are distinct from "parole." Federal supervised release is a post-incarceration status imposed by the sentencing court; parole (largely abolished in the federal system by the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984) was an administrative determination by a parole board. Older case law uses "parole" to describe what would now be called supervised release in the federal context, creating a labeling inconsistency across eras. The environmental law usage — "release" as the discharge or escape of a hazardous substance — is entirely statutory and appears with high frequency in CERCLA and related materials. A researcher moving between environmental and contract law sources must treat the word as carrying two unrelated definitions that happen to share a term. ---
Historical Dictionary Support
Rapalje & Lawrence define release in the property/conveyancing sense as the primary entry: "a conveyance of a man's right in lands or tenements to another who hath some former estate in possession." They distinguish several common-law subtypes inherited from Littleton and Blackstone, including releases operating by way of enlargement, by way of passing a right, and by way of extinguishment. This orientation reflects the dominance of conveyancing concerns in 19th-century Anglo-American legal writing. The contract/obligation meaning — release as discharge of a claim — is treated in Rapalje & Lawrence as secondary and closely tied to sealed instruments. At common law, a release of a contractual right required a deed; a simple writing or oral statement was insufficient. The seal requirement eroded across American jurisdictions during the 19th and early 20th centuries, and most states have now abolished or significantly modified it. Historical dictionary definitions that emphasize seals should be read with that trajectory in mind. Historical sources do not address the modern employment-law release (post-OWBPA), class action settlement releases, or environmental releases. These are entirely post-1960s developments. For these topics, the historical dictionaries provide vocabulary and common-law foundation, but the substantive rules must be drawn from statute, regulation, and modern case law. ---
Jurisdictional Note
The common-law rule that releasing one joint tortfeasor releases all has been abolished or modified in most U.S. jurisdictions by statute, but the extent of modification varies significantly. Some states require explicit reservation of rights against other tortfeasors; others make the intent of the instrument controlling. Researchers working on multi-party tort matters should verify the applicable jurisdiction's rule before relying on older instruments or case law. ---
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Discharge — Release and Covenant Not to Sue (The Law Mind Contracts & Commercial Law Encyclopedia) Specialized Contracts — Settlement Agreements and Releases (The Law Mind Contracts & Commercial Law Encyclopedia) Severance Agreements, Releases, and Settlement of Claims (The Law Mind Employment & Labor Law Encyclopedia) ---
Related Terms
Covenant not to sue — Discharge — Waiver — Settlement agreement — Accord and satisfaction — Novation — General release — Partial release — Supervised release — Parole — Bail — Recognizance — Releasor — Releasee — Joint tortfeasor rule — Consideration — Sealed instrument — ADEA (age discrimination releases) — CERCLA (environmental release)
RELEASEmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
1. Liberation, discharge, or setting free from restraint or confinement. Thus, a man unlawfully imprisoned may ob- tain his release on habeas corpus. 2. The relinquishment, concession, or giv- ing up of a right, claim, or privilege, by the person in whom it exists or to whom it ac- crues, to the person against whom it might have been demanded or enforced. 3. The abandonment to (or by) a person called as a witness in a suit of his interest in the subject-matter of the controversy, in order to qualify him to testify, under the com- mon-law rule. 4. A receipt or certificate given by a ward to the guardian, on the final settlement of the latter's accounts, or by any other beneficiary on the termination of the trust administra- tion, relinquishing all and any further rights, claims, or demands, growing out of the trust or incident to it. 5. In admiralty actions, when a ship, cargo, or other property has been arrested, the owner may obtain its release by giving bail, or pay
RELEASEmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
ing the value of the property into court. | Upon this being done he obtains a release, which is a kind of writ under the seal of the court, addressed to the marshal, commanding him to release the property. Sweet. 6. In estates. The conveyance of a man's interest or right which he hath unto a thing to another that hath the possession thereof or some estate therein. Shep. Touch. 320. The relinquishment of some right or benefit to a person who has already some interest in the tenement, and such interest as qualifies him for receiving or availing himself of the right or benefit so relinquished. Burt. Real Prop. 12. A conveyance of an ulterior interest in lands or tenements to a particular tenant, or of an undivided share to a co-tenant, (the re- leasee being in either case in privity of estate with the releasor,) or of the right, to a per- 1 Steph. son wrongfully in possession. Comm. 479.
RELEASEmain
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910
' RELAXATION. In old Scotch practice. Letters passing the signet by which a debtor was relaxed [released] from the horn; that is, from personal diligence. Bell. 1. Liberation, discharge, or setting free from restraint or continement. Thus, a man unlawfully imprisoned may obtain his release on habeas corpus. Parker v. U. 8. 22 Ct. Cl 100. 2. The relinquishment, concession, or giving up of a right, claim, or privilege, by the person in whom it exists or to whom it accrues, to the person against whom it might have been demanded or enforced. Jaqua v. Shewalter, 10 Ind. App. 234, 37 N. E. 1072; Winter v. Kansas City Cable Ry. Co., 160 Mo. 159, 61 S. W. 606. 3. The abandonment to (or by) a person. called as a witness in a suit of his interest in the subject-matter of the controversy, in order to qualify him to testify, under the common-law rule 4. A receipt or certificate given by a ward to the guardian, on the final settlement of the latter’s accounts, or by any other beneficiary on the termination of the trust administration, relinquishing all and any further rights, claims, or demands, growing out of the trust or incident to it. 5. In admiralty actions, when a ship, cargo, or other property has been arrested, the owner may obtain its release by giving bail, or paying the value of the property into court. Upon this being done he obtains a release, which is a kind of writ under the seal of the court, addressed to the marshal, commanding him to release the property. Sweet. 6. In estates. The conveyance of a man’s interest or right which he hath unto a thing to another that hath the possession thereof or some estate therein. Shep. Touch. 320. -The relinquishment of some right or benefit to a person who has already some interest in the tenement, and such interest as qualifies him for receiving or availing himself of the right or benefit so relinquished. Burt. Real Prop. 12; Field v. Columbet, 9 Fed. Cas. 13; Baker v. Woodward, 12 Or. 3, 6 Pac. 173; Miller v. Emans, 19 N. Y. 387. . A conveyance of an ulterior interest in lands or tenements to a particular tenant, or of an undivided share to a co-tenant, (the releasee being in either case in privity of estate with the releasor,) or of the right, to a person wrongfully in possession. 1 Steph. Comm. 479. . —Deed of release. A deed operating by way of release, in the sense of the sixth definition given above; but more specifically, in those states where deeds of trust are in use instead of common-law mortgages, as a means of pledging real property as security for the payment of a debt, a “deed of release” is a conveyance in fee, executed by the trustee or trustees, to the grantor in the deed of trust, which conveys back to him the legal title to the estate, and which is to be given on satisfactory proof that he has ‘paid the secured debt in full or otherwise com- plied with the terms of the deed of trust.— elease by way of enl g an estate. A conveyance of the ulterior interest in lands to the particular tenant; as, if there be tenant for life or years, remainder to another in fee, and he in remainder releases all his right to the particular tenant and his heirs, this gives him the estate in fee. 1 Steph. Comm. 480; 2 Bl. Comm. 324.—Release by way of entry and feoffment. As if there be two joint disseisors, und the disseisee releases to one of them, he shall be sole seised, and shall keep out his former companion; which is the same in effect as if the disseisee had entered and thereby put an end to the disseisin, and afterwards had enfeoffed one of the disseisors in fee. Bl. Comm. 325.—Release by way of extinguishment. As if my tenant for life makes a lease to A. for life, remainder to B. and his heirs, and I release to A., this extinguishes my right to the reversion, and shall inure to the advantage of B.'s remainder, as well as of A.’s particular estate. 2 Bl. Comm. 325.—Release by way of passing a right. As if a man be disseised and releaseth to his disseisor all his right, hereby the disseisor acquires a new right, which changes the quality of his estate, and renders that lawful which before was tortious or wrongful. 2 Bl. Comm. 325.—Release by way of passing an estate. As, where one of two coparceners releases all her right to the other, this passes the fee-simple of the whole. 2 Bi. Comm. 324, 325.—Release of dower. The relinquishment by a married woman of her expectant dower interest or estate in a particular parcel of realty belonging to her husband, as, by joining with him in a conveyance of it to a third person—Release to uses. The conveyance by a deed of release to one party to the use of another is so termed. Thus, when a conveyance of lands was effected, by those instruments of assurance termed a lease and release, from A. to B. and his heirs, to the use of (*. and his heirs, in such case C. at once took ‘the whole fee-simple in such lands; B., by the operation of the statute of uses, being made a mere conduit-pipe for conveying the estate to C. Brown.
RELEASEv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To lease again; to grant a new lease of; to let back.
RELEASEv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To let loose again; to set free from restraint, confinement, or servitude; to give liberty to, or to set at liberty; to let go. Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired. Mark xv. 6. To relieve from something that confines, burdens, or oppresses, as from pain, trouble, obligation, penalty. To let go, as a legal claim; to discharge or relinquish a right to, as lands or tenements, by conveying to another who has some right or estate in possession, as when the person in remainder releases his right to the tenant in possession; to quit. To loosen; to relax; to remove the obligation of; as, to release an ordinance. [Obs.] Hooker. A sacred vow that none should aye Spenser.
RELEASEn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
The act of letting loose or freeing, or the state of being let loose or freed; liberation or discharge from restraint of any kind, as from confinement or bondage. "Who boast'st release from hell." Milton. Relief from care, pain, or any burden. Discharge from obligation or responsibility, as from debt, penalty, or claim of any kind; acquittance. A giving up or relinquishment of some right or claim; a conveyance of a man's right in lands or tenements to another who has some estate in possession; a quitclaim. Blackstone. The act of opening the exhaust port to allow the steam to escape. Lease and release. (Law) See under Lease. -- Out of release, without cessation. [Obs.] Chaucer.
releaseverb
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
To lease again; to grant a new lease of; to let back.
releasenoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
The event of setting (someone or something) free (e.g. hostages, slaves, prisoners, caged animals, hooked or stuck mechanisms). | The distribution, either public or private, of an initial or new and upgraded version of a computer software product. | Anything recently released or made available (as for sale). | That which is released, untied or let go. | The giving up of a claim, especially a debt. | Liberation from pain or suffering. | The process by which a chemical substance is set free. | The act or manner of ending a sound. | In the block system, a printed card conveying information and instructions to be used at intermediate sidings without telegraphic stations. | A device adapted to hold or release a device or mechanism as required. | A catch on a motor-starting rheostat, which automatically releases the rheostat arm and so stops the motor in case of a break in the field circuit. | A device adapted to hold or release a device or mechanism as required. | The catch on an electromagnetic circuit breaker for a motor, triggered in the event of an overload. | A device adapted to hold or release a device or mechanism as required. | The lever or button on a camera that opens the shutter to allow a photograph to be taken. | Orgasm. | Discharged semen | A kind of bridge used in jazz music.
releaseverb
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
To let go of; to cease to hold or contain. | To make available to the public. | To free or liberate; to set free. | To discharge. | (of a call) To hang up. | To let go, quit (a legal claim); to discharge or relinquish a right to (lands or buildings) by conveying to another who has some right or estate in possession. | To loosen; to relax; to remove the obligation of. | To set up; to provide with a goalscoring opportunity. | To set free a chemical substance. | To launch; to come out; to become available.

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