Definition
SCRIPT, n. A legal term with two distinct applications in historical practice, both centering on original written documents.
1. Original or principal instrument. Where an agreement or instrument is executed in part and counterpart — that is, where two or more copies are made, each signed by one or more parties — the original or principal copy is called the script. The counterpart is the copy delivered to the other party.
2. English probate practice. Any document offered or relevant to probate proceedings concerning a will. This includes: a will itself; a codicil; a draft of a will or codicil; or written instructions given for the preparation of either. Notably, if the original will is destroyed, any copy or paper that embodies the will's contents qualifies as a script for probate purposes, even if it was not prepared under the testator's direction. The term functions procedurally to identify what documents must be lodged with the probate court for examination.
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Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A script is most commonly understood as the written text of a play, film, broadcast, or other performance — the document containing dialogue and stage or screen directions. In computing, a script is a short, simple program or automated set of instructions.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): A writing or written document (noted as obsolete in that sense by 1913); original instrument or document; written characters or style of handwriting; type made in imitation of handwriting.
The gap here is significant. In modern everyday English, "script" overwhelmingly denotes a performance text or a computing file. In historical legal usage, it referred to an original instrument of legal consequence — nearly the opposite of a derivative or copy. A researcher encountering "script" in a 19th-century legal text should not read it as a theatrical or technical term but as a designation for an authoritative source document.
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Common Confusion
Script is sometimes loosely equated with "copy" in historical legal writing, particularly in discussions of probate proceedings where secondary documents are admitted as scripts after the original will is destroyed. This is an inversion of the term's primary meaning: script ordinarily denotes the original, not the copy. The confusion arises because English probate rules extended the term to encompass substitute documents when the original no longer exists — a practical exception that should not be read as redefining the baseline meaning.
Script should also be distinguished from counterpart. A counterpart is a duplicate of the principal instrument, also signed, but delivered to the other party. The script is the original; the counterpart is the corresponding copy.
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Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in English probate law, wills and estates materials, and 19th-century conveyancing records will encounter "script" as a term of procedure and pleading. Several navigational points:
First, jurisdictional scope matters sharply. The probate meaning of "script" is substantially an English law term. American legal sources rarely adopt it in that technical sense; most American usage of "script" in legal contexts, where it appears at all, tracks the general meaning of original instrument.
Second, in probate research, identifying what counted as a script had real procedural stakes. Under English practice, a script had to be lodged with the registry. Knowing which documents qualified — including destroyed-will substitutes — affects how researchers read probate inventories, registry records, and contested will proceedings.
Third, the computing and entertainment meanings of "script" are entirely modern and post-date all legal dictionary sources here. No historical legal source uses "script" in those senses. A researcher encountering "script" in any pre-20th-century legal document should discard modern connotations entirely.
Fourth, the principle embedded in the destroyed-will rule — that a copy becomes the script when the original is gone — has conceptual cousins in evidence law dealing with the best evidence rule and secondary evidence of lost documents. Researchers tracing those doctrines may find the script concept a useful entry point.
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Historical Dictionary Support
The historical sources are in close agreement on both core meanings, with minor variation in emphasis.
Black's Law Dictionary (both editions) and Rapalje & Lawrence align precisely, each giving the original-instrument meaning first and the English probate meaning second, citing Browne's Probate Practice for the proposition that a destroyed will's copy becomes a script. Bouvier strips the definition to its essence: the original or principal instrument where part and counterpart are executed. Burrill connects the term explicitly to practice, noting that a paper offered for probate as a will is called a script, with a citation to Jones' Law Reports.
Anderson's entry, as reproduced in the source material, appears to have drifted into a discussion of certified and examined copies rather than addressing script directly — suggesting either an editorial compression issue or a cross-reference that bled into this entry. Researchers relying on Anderson for this term should treat it with caution and cross-check against Black's or Bouvier.
None of the historical sources address the term in any commercial or non-probate context beyond the part-and-counterpart instrument, suggesting the term's legal use was always relatively narrow and was declining even by the time these dictionaries were compiled.
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Jurisdictional Note
The probate-specific meaning of script is substantially confined to English law and practice. American courts and statutes did not adopt the term as a technical designation for will-related documents, preferring "will," "instrument," and "paper writing." Researchers using American sources should not expect to find "script" functioning as a term of art in probate proceedings.
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