Definition
In law, a scrawl is a mark or flourish affixed to a written instrument in lieu of a wax seal, used to authenticate a document and give it the legal effect of a specialty. The scrawl functions identically to a scroll in this context: it stands as a substitute for a formal seal, transforming an otherwise simple contract into a sealed instrument. Where a jurisdiction recognized the scrawl as equivalent to a seal, an obligation so executed carried the heightened legal consequences of a specialty — including, historically, a longer statute of limitations and restrictions on available defenses.
The term appears in American legal usage primarily as a regional variant of "scroll" or "scrowl," concentrated in certain early American states where written seal-substitutes were recognized by statute or common practice.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Irregular, poor handwriting — especially writing that is illegible; a hastily or carelessly written note.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Listed as obsolete, redirecting to "crawl."
The gap here is complete. In ordinary English, a scrawl is a defect of writing — something messy, rushed, or illegible. In law, a scrawl is a deliberate and legally operative mark, chosen precisely because it carries formal authenticating weight. A document authenticated by a scrawl in the legal sense is not carelessly executed; it is executed in a recognized form. Researchers encountering "scrawl" in historical legal documents should not import the common meaning.
Common Confusion
SCRAWL / SCROLL / SCROWL: These three terms are used interchangeably across historical American legal sources, and no consistent distinction separates them in practice. Scroll (or scrowl) is the more widely used form in legal dictionaries and statutes; scrawl is a regional American variant that carries identical legal meaning. Bouvier points to SCROLL for the substantive doctrine; Black's and Burrill treat scrawl as simply a synonym. Researchers should not assume a meaningful distinction based on spelling variant alone.
Why It Matters in Research
Scrawl is a jurisdictionally narrow term with a short lifespan in active legal use. It surfaces primarily in early American case law and statutes from states — Florida being the example preserved in the dictionaries — that recognized written seal-substitutes. Researchers working with antebellum American contract disputes, especially those turning on whether an instrument was a specialty or a simple contract, may encounter scrawl where they would more commonly expect scroll.
The critical research trap is terminology scatter: the same legal concept (a written seal-substitute) may appear as "scroll," "scrawl," "scrowl," "L.S.," or a literal impression, depending on jurisdiction, period, and drafter preference. Searching a corpus for one term without the others risks missing directly relevant material.
Researchers should also note that the legal significance of the sealed-instrument distinction has largely collapsed in American law. Most states have abolished or severely limited the common-law distinction between sealed and unsealed instruments by statute. Historical sources discussing the effect of a scrawl as a seal are describing a doctrinal framework that is, in most jurisdictions, no longer operative. Context dating is essential.
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries speak with one voice on scrawl: it is a regional American synonym for scroll. Black's first and second editions, Burrill, and Rapalje & Lawrence all define it identically and all cite the same Florida authority — Comerford v. Cobb, 2 Fla. 418 — for the proposition that the word "seal" written in a scrawl attached to an obligor's name makes the instrument a specialty. Bouvier adds the conceptual framing explicitly: a scrawl is "a mark which is to supply the place of a seal," then redirects to SCROLL for doctrine. Anderson dispenses with independent treatment entirely.
What the historical dictionaries do not provide is any treatment of how courts evaluated whether a particular mark qualified as a scrawl, what formalities (if any) distinguished a valid scrawl from an ordinary mark, or which states specifically used the term as opposed to scroll. The doctrinal weight is carried by the scroll entries; scrawl functions as a pointer. Researchers needing the substantive law of seal-substitutes should follow that redirect.
Jurisdictional Note
Scrawl as a distinct legal term appears to have been confined to a subset of American states in the antebellum period; the Florida citation is the only one preserved across the historical dictionary tradition. Most American jurisdictions used scroll or scrowl for the same concept. The underlying doctrine — that a written mark could substitute for a wax seal — was itself a creature of American statutory modification of the English common law, and has since been further modified or abolished in most states.