Definition
In legal usage, *scissor* (from Latin *scissor*, one who cleaves or divides) appears as an archaic term denoting a cutter or divider — used historically in contexts involving the fraudulent or unauthorized cutting, mutilation, or excision of documents, seals, records, or other legal instruments. The term surfaces in medieval and early common law sources in connection with the physical integrity of writs, charters, and court records, where cutting or defacing such instruments constituted a serious legal wrong. It is not a term of art in modern law and is encountered almost exclusively in historical legal texts and Latin-inflected treatises.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To cut using scissors; to excise or expunge something from a text; to reproduce text as an excerpt; to move the legs in a scissoring motion.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To cut with scissors or shears; to prepare with the aid of scissors.
Editorial note: The legal significance of *scissor* lies not in the physical act of cutting but in its consequence for the validity and integrity of legal instruments. Cutting a document in medieval legal practice could void it, signal forgery, or constitute criminal destruction of a record — stakes that the common definition does not capture.
Common Confusion
*Scissor* should not be confused with *cancel* or *obliteration* in the legal sense. Cancellation of a deed or instrument in equity could be effected by marking, lining through, or physical cutting — and courts distinguished between acts that voided an instrument at law and those requiring equitable relief. The Latin *scissor* also carried the distinct meaning of a carver or a class of gladiator in classical sources, meanings that have no legal application and should not be imported into legal analysis.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in medieval common law materials, Bracton, or early Year Book sources will encounter *scissor* and related forms (*scissura*, *scissio*) primarily in discussions of document integrity — the physical cutting of a chirograph, the defacement of a seal, or the mutilation of a court roll. Burrill's entry is minimal, pointing only to Bracton fol. 141b, which concerns the physical division or cutting of a document as part of chirograph practice or as an act of fraud. A researcher relying solely on the common definition risks misreading such passages entirely.
The chirograph connection is significant: in medieval conveyancing, indentures and chirographs were deliberately cut along a serrated or lettered line so that matching halves could confirm authenticity. The act of *scissio* in that context was legally constitutive, not destructive. By contrast, unauthorized cutting of a writ or record was treated as a serious offense against the administration of justice. Context governs which meaning applies, and the distinction is rarely flagged in secondary sources.
Researchers should also be alert to the term appearing in Latin case material or Latinate treatises without translation, where it may be glossed over as merely physical description when it in fact carries legal significance.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's entry is sparse to the point of near-silence: *Cutter, Taylor? Bract. fol. 141 b.* The uncertainty signaled by the question mark after "Taylor" suggests Burrill himself was hedging on the English equivalent, unsure whether "cutter" or "taylor" (tailor — one who cuts cloth) best rendered the Latin. This ambiguity is itself instructive: it indicates the term did not map cleanly onto any established English legal term of art in Burrill's era, and was understood primarily through its Latin root and the Bracton citation rather than through an independent English legal tradition.
The Latin dictionary meaning — *one who cleaves or divides*, a carver, and a type of gladiator — confirms the root sense is physical division. The Bracton reference (fol. 141b) situates the term in a legal context that demands consultation of the original source; Burrill's entry alone is insufficient to establish its precise legal meaning.
No other historical dictionaries in the present source set cover this term. Researchers should treat Burrill's entry as a signpost to Bracton rather than an authoritative definition.
Jurisdictional Note
This term has no modern jurisdictional application. It is confined to historical English and Roman law sources. Researchers working in civil law or Romanist traditions may encounter *scissor* in its classical Latin sense (carver, gladiator) with no legal import.