SIDE

10 definitions found across Law Mind sources

SIDEAuthored
The Law Mind • 843 words
Definition
In legal usage, "side" refers primarily to the distinct jurisdictional divisions or functional provinces within a single court. When a court possesses authority over multiple categories of cases — civil and criminal, legal and equitable, admiralty and prize — those domains are described as different "sides" of the same tribunal. A litigant or matter appearing before one side of a court is subject to the procedural rules, remedies, and substantive law governing that division, which may differ substantially from those applicable on another side of the same court. Common pairings in historical usage include: 1. Equity side / Law side: The division within courts of general jurisdiction (and notably the English Court of Exchequer and early American federal courts) between matters governed by equitable principles and those governed by common law rules. 2. Crown side / Plea side: The division within the English Court of King's (or Queen's) Bench between its criminal jurisdiction (crown side) and its civil jurisdiction (plea side). 3. Instance side / Prize side: The division within admiralty courts between ordinary maritime commerce disputes (instance side) and the adjudication of captured vessels and cargo during wartime (prize side).
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Lateral; relating to the left or right; indirect or oblique. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): The margin, edge, verge, or border of a surface; one of the longer edges of an oblong shape; any outer portion considered in relation to the rest. The common meaning of "side" implies physical position or geometry. The legal meaning is organizational and jurisdictional — it describes functional divisions of institutional authority, not physical location. A researcher encountering "the equity side" in a legal source is reading about a procedural and substantive regime, not a room or a bench.
Common Confusion
"Side" in the jurisdictional sense is sometimes confused with informal modern usage describing the parties to litigation (as in "both sides of the dispute"). These are distinct uses. The party sense is colloquial and carries no technical procedural weight. The jurisdictional sense — equity side, crown side, instance side — identifies the body of rules and powers under which a court is acting and has significant procedural consequences, particularly in historical sources.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in pre-merger (pre-1938 federal, pre-Judicature Acts English) sources must track which "side" of a court a matter was proceeding on, because the applicable rules of pleading, available remedies, and appellate pathways could differ entirely. A case litigated on the law side had no access to equitable relief; a matter on the equity side followed chancery procedure. Confusing the two produces misreadings of historical doctrine. The equity/law side distinction is especially critical in early American federal court research. Prior to the merger of law and equity under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (1938), federal district courts sat in separate capacities, and practitioners carefully designated which side they were invoking. Opinions and docket entries will often reflect this designation explicitly. The admiralty instance/prize side distinction matters for researchers in maritime law, prize law, and international law sources from the colonial period through World War II. The procedural posture and jurisdictional basis of an admiralty ruling can turn entirely on which side of the court was sitting. The term largely disappears from primary sources after procedural merger, making it a historical marker. When "side" appears in modern opinions, it is almost always the colloquial party sense, not the jurisdictional sense. This shift can mislead researchers who encounter the term in both modern and historical sources without recognizing the discontinuity.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (both the first and second editions) treat "side" identically, offering the same three illustrative pairings: instance/prize, crown/plea, and equity/law. The entries are brief but accurate, functioning as orientation rather than comprehensive treatment. Neither edition elaborates on the procedural consequences of the distinction or its post-merger obsolescence, which limits their utility for researchers who need to understand why the distinction mattered, not merely that it existed. Anderson's Dictionary of Law does not appear to contain a useful entry for "side" as a jurisdictional term — the reproduced text is evidently misassigned to this entry and concerns ship-related concepts (passports, sea-letters, shipwreck, ship-yards). Researchers should not rely on Anderson's for this term. No historical dictionary source in the corpus addresses the colloquial "parties to litigation" sense of "side" or flags the risk of conflating it with the jurisdictional sense.
Jurisdictional Note
The jurisdictional sense of "side" is primarily English and American. English courts used the crown/plea and instance/prize distinctions through the nineteenth century; American courts adopted and adapted the equity/law division, which survived in federal practice until 1938 and in some state courts considerably longer. Civil law jurisdictions do not use this terminology.
Related Terms
Equity side — Law side — Crown side — Plea side — Instance side — Prize side — Admiralty jurisdiction — Merger of law and equity — Court of Chancery — Jurisdiction — Division (court) — Procedural merger
SIDEmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
The same court is sometimes said to have different sides; that is, different provinces or fields of jurisdiction. Thus, an admiralty court may have an "instance side," S distinct from its powers as a prize court; the "crown side," (criminal jurisdiction) is to be distinguished from the "plea side," (civil jurisdiction;) the same court may have an "equity side" and a "law side."
SIDEmain
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910
The same court is sometimes said to have different sides; that is, different provinces or fields of jurisdiction. Thus, an admiralty court may have an “instance side,” distinct from its powers as a prize court; the “crown side,” (criminal jurisdiction) is to be distinguished from the “plea side,” (civil jurisdiction ;) the same court may have an “equity side” and a “law side.”
SIDEmain
Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890
최 ​1 passport, sea-brief or sea-letter, proofs of property, muster-roll, charter-party, bill of lading, bill of health, log-book or ship's journal, etc.1 Shipwreck. When a ship is so broken, disjointed, or otherwise injured that it no longer exists in its original nature and essence.2 Ship-yard. In a policy of insurance, may mean the yard in actual use, including sidewalks.3 The rules for the acquisition of property by persons engaged in navigation, and for its transfer and descent, are, with some exceptions, those prescribed by the State to which the vessel belongs. In general, the legislation of a State, not directed against commerce but relating to the rights, duties, and liabilities of citizens, and only indirectly and remotely affecting the operations of commerce, is obligatory upon the citizens, within its territorial jurisdiction, whether on land or water, or engaged in commerce, foreign or inter-State, or in any other pursuit. See SALE, Bill of. See further ABANDON, 1; ADMIRALTY; ANCHOR; APPURTENANCES; ARREST, 2 (1); BARRATRY, 1; BILGED; BOTTOMRY; CARGO; CHARTER-PARTY; COASTING TRADE; COLLISION, 2; COMMERCE; CONSORT, 2; CONVEYANCE, 1; CREW; DEMURRAGE; DERELICT, 3; DEVIATION; DISPATCH; DREDGE; EFFECTS; EMBARGO; FREIGHT; FURNITURE; HYPOTHECATION; INSPECTION, 1; LADING; LAUNCH; LICITATION; LOG-BOOK; LOOKOUT; Loss, 2; MARITIME; MODERATE, 2; NAVIGATION; NECESSARIES; OUTFIT; PETITORY; PLUNDER; PORT; PRIMAGE; PROTEST, 3; PROVISIONS; QUARANTINE, 2; RANSOM; REGISTRY, 1; RES, 2, Perit; RESPONDENTIA; RESTITUTIO; REVOLT; ROAD, 2; SAIL; SALVAGE, 1; SEA; SEARCH, Right of; SEIZURE, 2; STRANDING; TONNAGE; TOUCH; TOWAGE; VISIT, 1; VOYAGE; WHARF; WRECK; YACHT. Compare ALONG. "Fences on the sides of a railroad" may mean fences on the spaces between the road-bed and the outer lines of the company's land; not necessarily on the dividing lines. • Thompson v. Currie, 4 Can. Leg. News, 139 (1881). 2 Coyle v. Commonwealth, 104 Pa. 133 (1883). • Gribble v. St. Paul Pioneer-Press Co., 34 Minn. 343. • Gribble v. Same, 37 Minn. 277 (1887), cases. • Marshall v. St. Louis, &c. R. Co., 51 Mo. 140 (1872).
SIDEn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
The margin, edge, verge, or border of a surface; especially (when the thing spoken of is somewhat oblong in shape), one of the longer edges as distinguished from the shorter edges, called ends; a bounding line of a geometrical figure; as, the side of a field, of a square or triangle, of a river, of a road, etc. Any outer portion of a thing considered apart from, and yet in relation to, the rest; as, the upper side of a sphere; also, any part or position viewed as opposite to or contrasted with another; as, this or that side. Looking round on every side beheld A pathless desert. Milton. One of the halves of the body, of an animals or man, on either side of the mesial plane; or that which pertains to such a half; as, a side of beef; a side of sole leather. The right or left part of the wall or trunk of the body; as, a pain in the side. One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side. John xix. 34. A slope or declivity, as of a hill, considered as opposed to another slope over the ridge. Along the side of yon small hill. Milton. The position of a person or party regarded as opposed to another person or party, whether as a rival or a foe; a body of advocates or partisans; a party; hence, the interest or cause which one maintains against another; a doctrine or view opposed to another. God on our side, doubt not of victory. Shak. We have not always been of the . . . same side in politics. Landor. Sets the passions on the side of truth. Pope. A line of descent traced through one parent as distinguished from that traced through another. To sit upon thy father David's throne, By mother's side thy father. Milton. Fig.: Aspect or part regarded as contrasted with some other; as, the bright side of poverty. By the side of, close at hand; near to. -- Exterior side. (Fort.) See Exterior, and Illust. of Ravelin. -- Interior side (Fort.), the line drawn from the center of one bastion to that of the next, or the line curtain produced to the two oblique radii in front. H. L. Scott. -- Side by side, close together and abreast; in company or along with. -- To choose sides, to select those who shall compete, as in a game, on either side. -- To take sides, to attach one's self to, or give assistance to, one of two opposing sides or parties.
SIDEa.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
Of or pertaining to a side, or the sides; being on the side, or toward the side; lateral. One mighty squadron with a side wind sped. Dryden. Hence, indirect; oblique; collateral; incidental; as, a side issue; a side view or remark. The law hath no side respect to their persons. Hooker. Long; large; extensive. [Obs. or Scot.] Shak. His gown had side sleeves down to mid leg. Laneham. Side action, in breech-loading firearms, a mechanism for operating the breech block, which is moved by a lever that turns sidewise. -- Side arms, weapons worn at the side, as sword, bayonet, pistols, etc. -- Side ax, an ax of which the handle is bent to one side. -- Side-bar rule (Eng. Law.), a rule authorized by the courts to be granted by their officers as a matter of course, without formal application being made to them in open court; -- so called because anciently moved for by the attorneys at side bar, that is, informally. Burril. -- Side box, a box or inclosed seat on the side of a theater. To insure a side-box station at half price. Cowper. -- Side chain, one of two safety chains connecting a tender with a locomotive, at the sides. -- Side cut, a canal or road branching out from the main one. [U.S.] -- Side dish, one of the dishes subordinate to the main course. -- Side glance, a glance or brief look to one side. -- Side hook (Carp.), a notched piece of wood for clamping a board to something, as a bench. -- Side lever, a working beam of a side-lever engine. -- Side-lever engine, a marine steam engine having a working beam of each side of the cylinder, near the bottom of the engine, communicating motion to a crank that is above them. -- Side pipe (Steam Engine), a steam or exhaust pipe connecting the upper and lower steam chests of the cylinder of a beam engine. -- Side plane, a plane in which the cutting edge of the iron is at the side of the stock. -- Side posts (Carp.), posts in a truss, usually placed in pairs, each post set at the same distance from the middle of the truss, for supporting the principal rafters, hanging the tiebeam, etc. -- Side rod. (a) One of the rods which connect the piston-rod crosshead with the side levers, in a side-lever engine. (b) See Parallel rod, under Parallel. -- Side screw (Firearms), one of the screws by which the lock is secured to the side of a firearm stock. -- Side table, a table placed either against the wall or aside from the principal table. -- Side tool (Mach.), a cutting tool, used in a lathe or planer, having the cutting edge at the side instead of at the point. -- Side wind, a wind from one side; hence, an indirect attack, or indirect means. Wright.
SIDEv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To lean on one side. [Obs.] Bacon. To embrace the opinions of one party, or engage in its interest, in opposition to another party; to take sides; as, to side with the ministerial party. All side in parties, and begin the attack. Pope.
sideadj
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.
Being on the left or right, or toward the left or right; lateral. | Indirect; oblique; incidental.
sideverb
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.
To ally oneself, be in an alliance, usually with "with" or rarely "in with" | To lean on one side. | To be or stand at the side of; to be on the side toward. | To suit; to pair; to match. | To work (a timber or rib) to a certain thickness by trimming the sides. | To furnish with a siding. | To provide with, as a side or accompaniment.
sideadv
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.
Widely; wide; far.

Explore the full Law Mind legal research platform.

SubscribeEncyclopediaSign In