RISE

7 definitions found across Law Mind sources

RISEAuthored
The Law Mind • 656 words
Definition
In legal usage, RISE is not a substantive legal concept but a term of procedural art appearing almost exclusively in the phrase "rising of the court." When a court rises, it concludes its session. In this context, "rising of the court" has been judicially construed as equivalent to "final adjournment" or the last day of a term. The phrase establishes a temporal marker — a deadline or termination point — for procedural acts that must occur before or at the close of a court term. ---
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To move, or appear to move, physically upward relative to the ground; to ascend; to grow upward. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To move from a lower position to a higher; to ascend; to mount up — whether by walking, climbing, floating, or projection. The legal use carries none of the physical meaning. "Rising of the court" is a formal parliamentary and judicial idiom denoting adjournment or dissolution of a sitting session, drawn from the historic practice of judges and legislators literally standing — rising from their seats — to signal the end of proceedings. A researcher encountering "rise" in procedural or historical legal texts should treat it as a temporal or procedural marker, not a description of movement. ---
Why It Matters in Research
The primary research significance of this term is deadline-related. Statutes, court rules, and orders from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries frequently keyed procedural deadlines to the "rising of the court" rather than to a fixed calendar date. This created ambiguity when courts adjourned early, extended a term, or adjourned sine die — the exact moment the court "rose" could determine whether a motion, judgment, or appeal was timely filed. Researchers working in historical state court records, particularly pre-codification practice, should treat "rising of the court" as a term requiring contextual investigation: What was the term's scheduled end? Did the court actually adjourn on that date? Was there a formal order of adjournment? The equivalence to "final adjournment" affirmed in American and English sources means the phrase is not merely ceremonial — it carried enforceable procedural consequences. In modern practice, fixed-date and fixed-hour deadlines have largely replaced term-based language, so "rising of the court" appears rarely in contemporary rules. Its survival is mostly in older state practice acts, territorial court records, and historical equity proceedings. Researchers in those corpora should flag every instance. ---
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's is the sole source here, and its treatment is deliberately narrow: the entry does not define "rise" as a freestanding legal concept but locates its legal relevance entirely within the compound phrase "rising of the court." Bouvier cross-references the American and English Encyclopaedia of Law (2nd ed., vol. 24, p. 983) and an 1881 Nebraska Supreme Court decision (11 Neb. 165) for the proposition that the phrase equals "final adjournment" or "last day of the term." No other major historical law dictionaries — Black's, Wharton's, Rapalje & Lawrence — give "rise" a dedicated entry, which confirms that the term was understood as ordinary English pressed into procedural service rather than as legal jargon requiring independent definition. The Bouvier treatment captures the full scope of the term's legal significance: it is a phrase-level concept, not a doctrine. ---
Jurisdictional Note
Because "rising of the court" functioned as a procedural deadline mechanism primarily under older common law term practice, its application varied by jurisdiction depending on how each state or territory defined and regulated court terms. Researchers in Nebraska, as suggested by the Bouvier citation, and in states that retained formal term practice into the late nineteenth century will encounter this phrase most frequently. Federal practice largely abandoned strict term-based deadlines with the adoption of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in 1938. ---
Related Terms
Adjournment | Court Term | Sine Die | Final Adjournment | Session | Term of Court | Recess
RISEmain
Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928
Used in the phrase "rising of the court" which has been held equivalent to "final adjournment" or "the last day of the term." 24 Am. & Eng. Encyc. 2nd ed., 983; 11 Neb. 165.
RISEv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To move from a lower position to a higher; to ascend; to mount up. Specifically: -- (a) To go upward by walking, climbing, flying, or any other voluntary motion; as, a bird rises in the air; a fish rises to the bait. To ascend or float in a fluid, as gases or vapors in air, cork in water, and the like. To move upward under the influence of a projecting force; as, a bullet rises in the air. To grow upward; to attain a certain heght; as, this elm rises to the height of seventy feet. To reach a higher level by increase of quantity or bulk; to swell; as, a river rises in its bed; the mercury rises in the thermometer. To become erect; to assume an upright position; as, to rise from a chair or from a fall. To leave one's bed; to arise; as, to rise early. He that would thrive, must rise by five. Old Proverb. To tower up; to be heaved up; as, the Alps rise far above the sea. To slope upward; as, a path, a line, or surface rises in this direction. "A rising ground." Dryden. To retire; to give up a siege. He, rising with small honor from Gunza, . . . was gone. Knolles. To swell or puff up in the process of fermentation; to become light, as dough, and the like. To have the aspect or the effect of rising. Specifically: -- To appear above the horizont, as the sun, moon, stars, and the like. "He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good." Matt. v. 45. To become apparent; to emerge into sight; to come forth; to appear; as, an eruption rises on the skin; the land rises to view to one sailing toward the shore. To become perceptible to other senses than sight; as, a noise rose on the air; odor rises from the flower. To have a beginning; to proceed; to originate; as, rivers rise in lakes or springs. A scepter shall rise out of Israel. Num. xxiv. 17. Honor and shame from no condition rise. Pope. To increase in size, force, or value; to proceed toward a climax. Specifically: -- To increase in power or fury; -- said of wind or a storm, and hence, of passion. "High winde . . . began to rise, high passions -- anger, hate." Milton. To become of higher value; to increase in price. Bullion is risen to six shillings . . . the ounce. Locke. To become larger; to swell; -- said of a boil, tumor, and the like. To increase in intensity; -- said of heat. To become louder, or higher in pitch, as the voice. To increase in amount; to enlarge; as, his expenses rose beyond his expectations. In various figurative senses. Specifically: -- To become excited, opposed, or hostile; to go to war; to take up arms; to rebel. At our heels all hell should rise With blackest insurrection. Milton. No more shall nation against nation rise. Pope. To attain to a better social position; to be promoted; to excel; to succeed. Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall. Shak. To become more and more dignified or forcible; to increase in interest or power; -- said of style, thought, or discourse; as, to rise in force of expression; to rise in eloquence; a story rises in interest. To come to mind; to be suggested; to occur. A thought rose in me, which often perplexes men of contemplative natures. Spectator. To come; to offer itself. There chanced to the prince's hand to rise An ancient book. Spenser. To ascend from the grave; to come to life. But now is Christ risen from the dead. 1. Cor. xv. 20. To terminate an official sitting; to adjourn; as, the committee rose after agreeing to the report. It was near nine . . . before the House rose. Macaulay. To ascend on a musical scale; to take a higher pith; as, to rise a tone or semitone. To be lifted, or to admit of being lifted, from the imposing stone without dropping any of the type; -- said of a form.
RISEn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
The act of rising, or the state of being risen. The distance through which anything rises; as, the rise of the thermometer was ten degrees; the rise of the river was six feet; the rise of an arch or of a step. Land which is somewhat higher than the rest; as, the house stood on a rise of land. [Colloq.] Spring; source; origin; as, the rise of a stream. All wickednes taketh its rise from the heart. R. Nelson. Appearance above the horizon; as, the rise of the sun or of a planet. Shak. Increase; advance; augmentation, as of price, value, rank, property, fame, and the like. The rise or fall that may happen in his constant revenue by a Spanish war. Sir W. Temple. Increase of sound; a swelling of the voice. The ordinary rises and falls of the voice. Bacon. Elevation or ascent of the voice; upward change of key; as, a rise of a tone or semitone. The spring of a fish to seize food (as a fly) near the surface of the water.
riseverb
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
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To move, or appear to move, physically upwards relative to the ground. | To move upwards. | To move, or appear to move, physically upwards relative to the ground. | To grow upward; to attain a certain height. | To move, or appear to move, physically upwards relative to the ground. | To slope upward. | To move, or appear to move, physically upwards relative to the ground. | To appear to move upwards from behind the horizon of a planet as a result of the planet's rotation. | To move, or appear to move, physically upwards relative to the ground. | To become erect; to assume an upright position. | To move, or appear to move, physically upwards relative to the ground. | To leave one's bed; to get up. | To move, or appear to move, physically upwards relative to the ground. | To be resurrected. | To move, or appear to move, physically upwards relative to the ground. | To terminate an official sitting; to adjourn. | To increase in value or standing. | To attain a higher status. | To increase in value or standing. | Of a quantity, price, etc., to increase. | To increase in value or standing. | To become more and more dignified or forcible; to increase in interest or power; said of style, thought, or discourse. | To increase in value or standing. | To ascend on a musical scale; to take a higher pitch. | To begin, to develop; to be initiated. | To become active, effective or operational, especially in response to an external or internal stimulus. | To begin, to develop; to be initiated. | To develop, to come about or intensify. | To begin, to develop; to be initiated. | To swell or puff up in the process of fermentation; to become light. | To begin, to develop; to be initiated. | To have its source (in a particular place). | To begin, to develop; to be initiated. | To become perceptible to the senses (other than sight). | To begin, to develop; to be initiated. | To become agitated, opposed, or hostile; to go to war; to take up arms; to rebel. | To begin, to develop; to be initiated. | To come to mind; to be suggested; to occur. | To go up; to ascend; to climb. | To cause to go up or ascend. | To retire; to give up a siege. | To come; to offer itself. | To be lifted, or capable of being lifted, from the imposing stone without dropping any of the type; said of a form.
risenoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
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The process of or an action or instance of moving upwards or becoming greater. | The process of or an action or instance of coming to prominence. | An increase in a quantity, price, etc. | Ellipsis of pay rise (“an increase in wage or salary”). | The amount of material extending from waist to crotch in a pair of trousers or shorts. | The front of a diaper. | A small hill; used chiefly in place names. | An area of terrain that tends upward away from the viewer, such that it conceals the region behind it; a slope. | A very noticeable visible or audible reaction of a person or group. | The height of an arch or a step.
Risename
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.
A surname.

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