Definition
"Son or character" does not appear to be a recognized legal term of art. The phrase is most likely a transcription error, optical character recognition (OCR) artifact, or typographical corruption of the phrase "sort or character" — a formulaic pairing used in older pleading and contract drafting to mean "kind or nature" — or possibly a corruption of another term entirely depending on the source document's context.
In historical legal usage, "sort or character" (or "nature or character") appeared frequently in pleadings, deeds, and statutory language to describe the quality, type, or classification of a thing, act, or person. The phrase served a catch-all function, ensuring that a description was not limited to a single narrow category.
As a standalone legal term, "son or character" carries no established meaning in Anglo-American law.
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Common Confusion
Researchers encountering "son or character" in a historical document should treat it as a probable corruption before assuming it reflects authentic legal usage. The following substitutions are worth checking against context:
— "Sort or character": The most probable original phrase. Used in pleadings and instruments to describe the type or nature of a thing or obligation.
— "Son or heir": A plausible misread in succession and probate contexts.
— "Sum or character": Possible in financial instrument contexts.
— "Son or [some other relational term]": Possible in family law or status-related contexts.
The Bouvier's entry provided in the source material does not define "son or character" as a term. That entry addresses limitations on venue for personal injury actions and physician negligence — it makes no reference to "son or character" as a legal concept. This strongly suggests the term as presented is a scanning or transcription artifact rather than an authentic dictionary headword.
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Why It Matters in Research
This entry exists as a navigational flag. If you have arrived here through a search of the Law Mind corpus, the most important research step is to return to your source document and examine the surrounding text for context clues that would identify the original phrase.
Practical steps for corpus researchers:
1. Check the original scan or facsimile, if available. OCR errors in 19th- and early 20th-century legal texts are common, particularly when typeset fonts used long "s" characters (which OCR routinely misreads as "f" or other letters) or when ink bleed affects letter spacing.
2. "Sort or character" is the historically attested phrase closest in appearance and usage to "son or character." Search the corpus for that phrase if the surrounding context involves classification, description of property, pleading of claims, or contract characterization.
3. If the document is a pleading, deed, or statute addressing the nature of a claim or type of property, "sort or character" is almost certainly the correct reading.
4. If the document is a probate, family law, or inheritance instrument, consider whether "son or heir" or a similar relational phrase might be the original.
The Bouvier's source entry attached to this term in the corpus concerns limitations in personal injury and negligence actions — a context that does not naturally implicate any phrase resembling "son or character." Researchers using this entry should treat that Bouvier's passage under its proper heading (Limitation — Venue) rather than as authority for any definition of the present phrase.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's Law Dictionary does not define "son or character" as a term. The entry attributed to this headword in the source material is a discussion of venue limitations for personal injury claims, including the rule that a physician sued for negligence or want of skill is not covered under the general personal injury limitation provision — citing what appears to be a Kentucky appellate decision. That content belongs under headings such as LIMITATION, VENUE, or NEGLIGENCE, not under any phrase resembling "son or character."
No other major historical legal dictionary — Black's, Burrill's, Rapalje and Lawrence, or Wharton's — carries a headword matching "son or character."
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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
If the underlying research question involves character evidence — reputation, prior acts, or witness credibility — the following Law Mind Encyclopedia entries are directly on point regardless of how you arrived at this dictionary entry:
civpro_151: Character Evidence — Rule 404(a) General Prohibition and Exceptions (The Law Mind Civil Procedure & Evidence Encyclopedia)
civpro_178: Impeachment by Character for Untruthfulness — Rules 608 and 609 (The Law Mind Civil Procedure & Evidence Encyclopedia)
criminal_209: Character Evidence and Prior Bad Acts (FRE 404(b)) (The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia)
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