SILK - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

SILKAuthored

The Law Mind • 942 words

Definition

In legal contexts, "silk" refers primarily to two distinct matters:

1. **As a material subject to statutory regulation:** The fibrous textile material produced by silkworms, in raw, processed, or manufactured form, as the term appears in trade, customs, and commercial statutes. Whether a given fabric or product qualifies as "silk" within a particular statute is a question of statutory construction, not resolved by whether the item merely contains some silk content.

2. **As a professional designation (British practice):** Informal term for a Queen's Counsel (QC) or King's Counsel (KC) — a senior barrister appointed by the Crown to the rank of Her (or His) Majesty's Counsel Learned in the Law. The designation derives from the silk gown worn by counsel of that rank, distinguishing them from junior barristers who wear gowns of a different material. "Taking silk" refers to the process of being appointed to this rank.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To remove the silk from corn; also the fiber itself, particularly that produced by silkworm larvae.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): The fine, soft thread produced by caterpillars, especially Bombyx mori, in forming cocoons; thread spun or cloth woven from that material; also, materials resembling silk, such as the styles of a female maize flower.

The gap between common and legal meaning operates in two directions. In statutory trade law, "silk" is a term of art whose scope is determined by the specific legislation at issue — a product that contains silk is not automatically "silk" within a given statute. In professional usage, "silk" refers to a person (a senior barrister), not a material at all, a usage entirely invisible in ordinary dictionaries.

Recognized Forms

/SUBTYPES

**Silk as a material (statutory construction context):**
- Raw silk: Fiber as wound directly from the cocoon, before processing.
- Manufactured silk: Silk that has been spun, woven, or otherwise worked into fabric or finished goods.
- Goods containing silk: Products in which silk is a component — these may or may not fall within a silk statute depending on the statute's language and the proportion or function of the silk content.

**Silk as professional rank:**
- Queen's Counsel / King's Counsel (QC/KC): The formal title of which "silk" is the informal name.
- Leading counsel: Functional description of a silk's role in litigation, where they lead a junior barrister.

Why It Matters in Research

Researchers will encounter "silk" in two entirely separate documentary streams, and conflating them produces confusion. In trade, customs, excise, and commercial law sources — particularly nineteenth-century English cases and statutes — "silk" is a statutory term whose coverage was heavily litigated. The core interpretive problem: does a statute covering "silk" reach every product that contains some silk fiber, or only products that are substantially or primarily silk? English courts repeatedly answered this contextually. A product can contain silk and still fall outside a "silk" statute if the statute's purpose and structure exclude it. Bouvier's entry captures the doctrinal point cleanly: inclusion of silk as a component is not itself determinative.

For researchers using the Law Mind corpus to trace textile trade regulation, customs duties, or commercial contract disputes involving fabric goods, the statutory construction cases are the relevant thread. Pay attention to the precise statutory language being construed in each case — "silk," "made of silk," "containing silk," and "partly of silk" were treated as meaningfully different formulations.

The professional designation meaning is almost entirely absent from American legal sources and from Bouvier. It is a term of English and Commonwealth bar practice. Researchers working in British legal history, comparative advocacy, or the history of the legal profession will encounter "silk" used this way throughout English law reports, memoirs, and professional records. Any reference to a barrister "taking silk," "being a silk," or being distinguished from "juniors" uses the term in this professional sense.

Historical corpus traps: In nineteenth-century English sources, "silk" may appear in the same document in both senses — a trade case argued before a QC will have "silk" meaning the advocate and also potentially meaning the commodity in dispute. Context resolves this, but the researcher should be alert.

Historical Dictionary Support

Bouvier's entry is narrow and specifically functional: it addresses the statutory construction question of what goods fall within a legislative reference to silk. Bouvier cites English case authority for the proposition that silk watchguards, silk dresses, silk hose, and elastic webbing composed of one-third silk qualify as "silk" within such statutes — but frames this as case-by-case determination, not a general rule that any silk-containing product qualifies. The entry does not address the QC/silk professional usage at all, which is consistent with Bouvier's American focus and the fact that the KC/QC rank has no American equivalent.

What historical dictionaries miss: No standard American legal dictionary of the period addresses "silk" as a professional designation, because the usage was and remains British and Commonwealth. Researchers relying solely on American sources will find this meaning entirely absent. English legal dictionaries and bar histories are the appropriate resources for the professional sense.

Jurisdictional Note

The professional designation meaning of "silk" — referring to a QC or KC — is specific to England and Wales and Commonwealth jurisdictions that retained or adapted the rank. It has no equivalent in American legal practice. The statutory construction meaning appears in both English and American trade and commercial law, though the specific cases Bouvier cites are English.

SILKmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

Under a statute referring to silk in a manufactured or unmanufactured state, any fabric which contains silk will not necessarily be included, but silk watch- guards and silk dresses; 28 L. J. C. P. 265; silk hose: id.; and elastic webbing com- posed of one-third silk; 83 L. J. Ex. 187, will be so considered.

SILKn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

The fine, soft thread produced by various species of caterpillars in forming the cocoons within which the worm is inclosed during the pupa state, especially that produced by the larvæ of Bombyx mori. Hence, thread spun, or cloth woven, from the above-named material. That which resembles silk, as the filiform styles of the female flower of maize. Raw silk, silk as it is wound off from the cocoons, and before it is manufactured.  -- Silk cotton, a cottony substance enveloping the seeds of the silk-cotton tree.  -- Silk-cotton tree (Bot.), a name for several tropical trees of the genera Bombax and Eriodendron, and belonging to the order Bombaceæ. The trees grow to an immense size, and have their seeds enveloped in a cottony substance, which is used for stuffing cushions, but can not be spun.  -- Silk flower. (Bot.) (a) The silk tree. (b) A similar tree (Calliandra trinervia) of Peru.  -- Silk fowl (Zoöl.), a breed of domestic fowls having silky plumage.  -- Silk gland (Zoöl.), a gland which secretes the material of silk, as in spider or a silkworm; a sericterium.  -- Silk gown, the distinctive robe of a barrister who has been appointed king's or queen's counsel; hence, the counsel himself. Such a one has precedence over mere barristers, who wear stuff gowns. [Eng.] -- Silk grass (Bot.), a kind of grass (Stipa comata) of the Western United States, which has very long silky awns. The name is also sometimes given to various species of the genera Aqave and Yucca.  -- Silk moth (Zoöl.), the adult moth of any silkworm. See Silkworm.  -- Silk shag, a coarse, rough-woven silk, like plush, but with a stiffer nap.  -- Silk spider (Zoöl.), a large spider (Nephila plumipes), native of the Southern United States, remarkable for the large quantity of strong silk it produces and for the great disparity in the sizes of the sexes.  -- Silk thrower, Silk throwster, one who twists or spins silk, and prepares it for weaving. Brande & C.  -- Silk tree (Bot.), an Asiatic leguminous tree (Albizzia Julibrissin) with finely bipinnate leaves, and large flat pods; -- so called because of the abundant long silky stamens of its blossoms. Also called silk flower.  -- Silk vessel. (Zoöl.) Same as Silk gland, above.  -- Virginia silk (Bot.), a climbing plant (Periploca Græca) of the Milkweed family, having a silky tuft on the seeds. It is native in Southern Europe.

silkverb

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.

To remove the silk from (corn).

silknoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

A fine fiber excreted by the silkworm or other arthropod (such as a spider). | A fine, soft cloth woven from silk fibers. | Anything which resembles silk, such as the filiform styles of the female flower of maize, or the seed covering of bombaxes. | The gown worn by a Senior (i.e. Queen's/King's) Counsel. | A Queen's Counsel, King's Counsel or Senior Counsel. | A pair of long silk sheets suspended in the air on which a performer performs tricks. | The garments worn by a jockey displaying the colors of the horse's owner.

Silkname

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

A surname originating as an occupation for a seller of silk.

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