SEAL - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

SEALAuthored

The Law Mind • 1558 words

Definition

A seal, in law, carries two distinct and largely unrelated meanings: one rooted in the formal execution of legal instruments, the other in the administrative restriction of court records.

1. Seal as a formal instrument of authentication. Historically, a seal was a physical impression in wax, lead, or other material affixed to a document to authenticate it and signal the solemnity of the maker's intent. A document executed "under seal" — also called a sealed instrument or deed — was distinguished from a simple contract by its form of execution and carried significant legal consequences: longer statutes of limitations, the presumption of consideration, and binding effect on parties without the need to prove bargained-for exchange. In modern practice, the physical wax impression has been almost entirely replaced by a recital of the word "seal," the letters "L.S." (locus sigilli, meaning "place of the seal"), a printed or embossed mark, or, in many jurisdictions, simply the acknowledgment that the instrument is intended to be sealed. Corporate seals — a circular embossed or stamped impression identifying the entity — remain in limited use for certain formal documents, including stock certificates and notarized instruments.

2. Seal as a court order restricting access to records. In modern criminal and civil procedure, "sealing" refers to a judicial or administrative order that restricts public access to court records. Sealed records remain in existence but are shielded from public view, typically accessible only to the parties, their counsel, certain government agencies, and the court itself. Sealing differs from expungement: sealed records are hidden, not destroyed or legally nullified. Sealing is commonly applied to juvenile court records, arrest records where charges were dismissed, and sensitive civil litigation materials (including settlement agreements and trade secrets).

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Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A seal is a device or substance used to close or fasten something securely, or an emblem/stamp used to authenticate a document or represent an authority.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "An engraved or inscribed stamp or die for making an impression in wax or other tenacious substance, to be attached to a document as a mark of authenticity." Webster's also recognizes the wax impression itself as a "seal."

The ordinary English meaning tracks closely to the first legal meaning — authentication by a physical mark — but misses the legal consequences that historically attached to that act. More importantly, neither common definition anticipates the modern procedural meaning of sealing court records, which is entirely distinct and now more frequently encountered by non-lawyers.

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Common Confusion

Sealing vs. Expungement. These terms are routinely conflated, including in popular reporting and some statutes that use them interchangeably. Sealing restricts access to a record; the record continues to exist and may be disclosed in defined circumstances. Expungement — depending on jurisdiction — may destroy the record, legally nullify the underlying event, or merely achieve a sealing-like restriction. The distinction matters enormously in research: a client who was told their record was "sealed" may or may not have achieved what expungement would provide. Historical statutes must be read closely; some early "sealing" provisions were functionally equivalent to expungement, while some modern "expungement" statutes produce only a seal.

Seal vs. Notarization. A sealed instrument and a notarized instrument are not the same thing. Notarization authenticates the identity of a signatory; a seal historically signified the solemnity and finality of the maker's legal act and triggered distinct doctrinal consequences. Documents can be both sealed and notarized, but each requirement is independent.

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Core Elements

For a sealed instrument (the formal execution meaning), the traditional requirements at common law were:

Writing. The instrument must be in writing.
Affixation. A seal must be physically affixed — or, in modern jurisdictions, a recognized substitute (recital, "L.S.," scroll, printed mark) must appear.
Delivery. The instrument must be delivered with the intent that it become operative.

Consideration was not required for a sealed instrument at common law — the seal itself imported consideration as a matter of law. This is the doctrine's most practically significant consequence and the one most frequently modified by statute.

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Recognized Forms

/SUBTYPES

Private seal: A seal used by an individual, as distinguished from a corporate or public seal. At common law, any impression in wax would suffice; later, courts accepted scrolls and recitals as functional equivalents.

Corporate seal: An official embossed or engraved mark used by a business entity. Required for certain transactions historically; largely optional today, though still used in some jurisdictions for deeds and formal corporate instruments.

Public or official seal: The seal of a court, government agency, notary, or public officer. Affixing an official seal to a document carries evidentiary weight — certified copies bearing a court seal are self-authenticating under the Federal Rules of Evidence.

Court record seal: A judicial or administrative order restricting public access to filed materials. Governed by statute or court rule, with varying procedures for when sealing is permissible, who may seek it, and under what circumstances sealed records may be reopened.

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Why It Matters in Research

The two meanings of "seal" inhabit almost entirely separate bodies of law and literature, but they share the same headword in every dictionary. A researcher pulling sources on "sealed instruments" is navigating contract doctrine, property conveyances, and limitations law. A researcher pulling sources on "sealing" in criminal procedure is navigating post-conviction relief, juvenile law, and public records access. Failing to sort these at the outset wastes time and produces false results.

For historical research on sealed instruments: The doctrine's importance has declined sharply over the twentieth century. Many states abolished or significantly curtailed the legal distinction between sealed and unsealed instruments by statute in the mid-to-late 1900s. The Uniform Written Obligations Act and the Uniform Commercial Code each eroded the special treatment of seals. When reading nineteenth or early twentieth century contract cases or treatises — including Rapalje & Lawrence — assume that the sealed/unsealed distinction was fully operative and that consideration doctrine was shaped by it. Modern cases from those same jurisdictions may reflect a completely different statutory landscape.

For corporate research: Corporate seals appear frequently in older transaction documents. Their absence in modern documents is usually unremarkable, but practitioners examining historical chain-of-title documents or corporate authorizations should not assume that a missing corporate seal voids the instrument under current law — that question is jurisdiction-specific.

For record-sealing research: The Law Mind corpus covers this in dedicated encyclopedia entries. The statutes governing record sealing are highly jurisdiction-specific, change frequently, and are not reliably reflected in treatises older than fifteen years. Always verify the current statutory text directly.

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Historical Dictionary Support

Rapalje & Lawrence defines a seal as "an impression upon wax, wafer, or other tenacious substance, capable of being impressed, made by some device engraved upon a signet, ring, or stamp" and notes that courts later recognized "the word 'seal,' written by the party," or "a scrawl made with a pen," or "a printed or wafer seal" as legally sufficient. They emphasize the at-the-time still-operative rule that "a bond or contract under seal imports a consideration" — a point they treat as settled doctrine rather than disputed.

Rapalje & Lawrence do not address record sealing at all, which is consistent with the historical period: sealing of court records as a formal remedial mechanism is a twentieth-century development, largely driven by juvenile court reform beginning in the early 1900s and expanding significantly through criminal justice reform legislation after the 1960s.

The historical dictionaries are strong guides to the formal instrument meaning but are silent and unavailable guides to the procedural meaning. Researchers should not expect historical sources to bridge that gap.

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Jurisdictional Note

The legal effect of a seal on a written instrument varies significantly by state. Some states have abolished all distinction between sealed and unsealed instruments; others retain modified rules, particularly for real property conveyances and limitations periods. For record sealing, state statutes control almost entirely — federal court records are governed by federal rules and case law, while state court records are governed by state-specific sealing statutes that differ substantially in eligibility, procedure, and effect.

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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

Contracts — Contracts Under Seal and Statutory Substitutes (The Law Mind Contracts & Commercial Law Encyclopedia): Covers the doctrinal history, consideration doctrine, statutory abolition, and modern practice.

Expungement, Sealing, and Record Clearing (The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia): Covers the procedural meaning of sealing in criminal law, including the sealing/expungement distinction.

Juvenile Records — Confidentiality and Sealing (The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia): Covers automatic and discretionary sealing of juvenile court records specifically.

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SEALmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

An impression upon wax, wafer, or some other tenacious substance capable of being impressed. 5 Johns. 239; 4 Kent, Comm. 452. A seal is a particular sign, made to attest, in the most formal manner, the execution of an instrument. Code Civil Proc. Cal. § 1930. Merlin defines a seal to be a plate of metal with a flat surface, on which is engraved the arms of a prince or nation, or private individual, or other device, with which an impression may be made on wax or other substance on paper or parchment

SEALmain

Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910

contradistinction to that which is surrounded or inclosed between narrow headlands or promontories. People v. Richmond County, N. Y. ; U. S. v. Grush, 26 Fed. Cas. 48; U. S. v. Rodgers, 150 U. S. 249, 14 Bae Ct. 109, 37 L. Ed. 1071; Baker v. Hoag, 7 N. Y. 561, 59 Am. Dec. 431; 2 East, P. C. c. 17, § 10.—Senbatteries. Assaults by masters in the merchant service upon seamen at sea.—Sea-bed. All that portion.of land under the sea that lies beyond the sea-shore.—Sea-brief. See SEALETTER.—Sea-greens. In the Scotch law. Grounds overflowed by the sea in spring tides. Bell ea-laws. Laws relating to the sea, as the laws of Oleron, etc.—Sea-letter. <A nia of manifest, containing a description of the ship’s cargo, with the port from which it comes and the port of destination. This is one of the documents necessary to be carried by all neutral vessels, in the merchant service, in time of war, as an evidence of their nationality. 4 Kent, Comm. 157. See Sleght v. Hartshorne, 2 Johns. (N. Y.) 540.—Sea-reeve. An officer in maritime towns and places who took care of the maritime rights of the lord of the manor, and watched the shore, and collected wrecks for the lord. Tomlins.—Sea rowers. Pirates and robbers at sea.—Sea-shore. The margin of the sea in its usual and ordinary state. When the tide ig out, low-water mark is the margin of the sea; and, when the sea is full, the margin is Gree mark. The sea-shore is therefore all the ground between the ordinary highwater mark and low-water mark. It cannot be considered as including any ground always covered by the sea, for then it would have no definite limit on the sea-board. Neither can it include any part of the upland, for the game reason. Storer v. Freeman, 6 Mass. 439, 4 Am. Dec. 155; Church y. Meeker, 34 Conn. 424. That space of land over which the waters of the gea are spread in the highest water during the winter season. Civ. Code La. art. 442. ponwronshy: Seaworthiness. See those titles. Ap impression upon wax, wafer, or some other tenacious substance capable of being impressed. Allen v. Sullivan R. Co., 382 N. H. 449; Solon v. Williamsburgh Sav. Bank, 114 N. Y. 132, 21 N. B. 168; Alt v. Stoker, 127 Mo. 471, 30 S. W. 132; Bradford v. Randall, 5 Pick. (Mass.) 497; Osborn v. Kistler, 35 Ohio St. 102; Hopewell Tp. v. Amwell Tp., 6 N. J. Law, 175; Jones v. Logwood, 1 Wash. (Va.) 43. A seal is a particular sign, made to attest in the most formal manner, the execution of an instrument. Code Civ. Proc. Cal. § 1930. Merlin defines a seal to be a plate of metal with a flat surface, on which is engraved the arms of a prince or nation, or private individual, or other device, with which an impression may be made on wax or other substance on paper or parchment in order to authenticate them. The impression thus made is also called a “seal.” Répert. mot ‘‘Sceau.” —Common seal. A seal adopted and used by a corporation for authenticating its corporate acts and executing legal instruments.—Corporate seal. The official or common seal of an incorporated company or association—Great seal. In English law. A seal by virtue of which a great rt of the royal authority is exercised. The ofce of the lord chancellor. or lord Keeper, is created by the delivery of the great seal into his custody. ‘There is one great seal for all public acts of state which concern the United Kingdom. Mozley & Whitley. In American law, the United States and also each of the states has and uses a seal, always carefully described by law, and sometimes officially called the “great” seal, though in some instances knowa simply as “the seal of the United States,” or “the seal of the state.” vate seal. The seal (however made) of a private person or corration, as distinguished from a seal employed y a state or government or any of its bureaus or departments.—Privy seal. In English law. A seal used in making out grants or letters patent, preparatory to their passing under the great seal. 2 Bl. Comm. 347.—Public seal. A seal belonging to and used by one of the bureaus or departments of government, for authenticating or attesting documents, process, or records. An impression made of some device, by means of a piece of metal or other hard substance, kept and used by public authority. Kirksey v. Bates, 7 Port. (Ala.) 534, 31 Am. Dec. 722.—Quarter seal. In Scotch law. A seal kept by the director of the chancery; in shape and impression the fourth part of the great seal, and called in statutes the ‘“‘testimonial” of the great seal. Bell—Seal days. In English practice. Motion days in the court of chancery, 80 called because every motion had to be stamped with the seal, which did not lie in court in the ordinary sittings out of term. Wharton.—Seal office. In English practice. An office for the sealing of judicial writs.— Seal-paper. In English law. A document issued by the lord chancellor, previous] commencement of the sittings, detailing the business to be done for each day in his court, and in the courts of the lords justices and vicechancellors. The master of the rolls in like manner issued a peal pe r in respect of the purines to be heard ore him. Smith, Ch. r. 9. , ‘

SEALmain

Rapalje & Lawrence • 1883

(1157) begins at the low-water mark, but between the high-water mark and the low-water mark, where the sea ebbs and flows, the common law and admiralty have divisum imperium, and alternate jurisdiction; the one upon the water when it is full sea; the other upon the land when it is an ebb.- Wharton. See ADMIRALTY; HIGH SEAS; KING'S CHAMBERS; NAVIGATION; TERRI-

SEALn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

Any aquatic carnivorous mammal of the families Phocidæ and Otariidæ.

SEALn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

An engraved or inscribed stamp, used for marking an impression in wax or other soft substance, to be attached to a document, or otherwise used by way of authentication or security. Wax, wafer, or other tenacious substance, set to an instrument, and impressed or stamped with a seal; as, to give a deed under hand and seal. Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond Thou but offend;st thy lungs to speak so loud. Shak. That which seals or fastens; esp., the wax or wafer placed on a letter or other closed paper, etc., to fasten it. That which confirms, ratifies, or makes stable; that which authenticates; that which secures; assurance. "under the seal of silence." Milton. Like a red seal is the setting sun On the good and the evil men have done. Lonfellow. An arrangement for preventing the entrance or return of gas or air into a pipe, by which the open end of the pipe dips beneath the surface of water or other liquid, or a deep bend or sag in the pipe is filled with the liquid; a draintrap. Great seal. See under Great.  -- Privy seal. See under Privy, a.  -- Seal lock, a lock in which the keyhole is covered by a seal in such a way that the lock can not be opened without rupturing the seal. Seal manual. See under Manual, a.  -- Seal ring, a ring having a seal engraved on it, or ornamented with a device resembling a seal; a signet ring. Shak.

SEALv.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

To set or affix a seal to; hence, to authenticate; to confirm; to ratify; to establish; as, to seal a deed. And with my hand I seal my true heart's love. Shak. To mark with a stamp, as an evidence of standard exactness, legal size, or merchantable quality; as, to seal weights and measures; to seal silverware. To fasten with a seal; to attach together with a wafer, wax, or other substance causing adhesion; as, to seal a letter. Hence, to shut close; to keep close; to make fast; to keep secure or secret. Seal up your lips, and give no words but "mum". Shak. To fix, as a piece of iron in a wall, with cement, plaster, or the like. Gwilt. To close by means of a seal; as, to seal a drainpipe with water. See 2d Seal, 5. Among the Mormons, to confirm or set apart as a second or additional wife. [Utah, U.S.] If a man once married desires a second helpmate . . . she is sealed to him under the solemn sanction of the church. H. Stansbury.

SEALnoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Wiktionary contributors • CC 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.

Ellipsis of Navy SEAL (“member of the Sea, Air, Land unit”).

sealnoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

A pinniped (Pinnipedia), particularly an earless seal (true seal) or eared seal.

Sealname

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

A surname. | A village in Sevenoaks district, Kent, England.

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