STAND - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

STANDAuthored

The Law Mind • 1311 words

Definition

STAND carries several distinct legal meanings, each arising in a different procedural or substantive context.

To remain in force. A pleading, order, or ruling that "stands" continues to operate and has not been overturned, vacated, or superseded. When a court sustains a pleading against demurrer, the pleading is said to stand. Usage is common in motion practice and appellate orders.

To abide by; to submit to. A party who agrees to "stand" a trial, stand by an agreement, or stand by a decision accepts the binding effect of that proceeding or outcome. Bouvier captures this most cleanly: to abide by a thing, to submit to a decision, to comply with an agreement.

To appear in court. A party or witness "stands" before the tribunal when physically present and subject to its authority.

The witness stand. The platform or designated area from which a witness delivers testimony under oath. A witness is said to "take the stand," and examination occurs while the witness is "on the stand."

Standing (truncated form). In procedural shorthand, to have "standing in court" means to possess the legally recognized right to bring or maintain an action. Anderson's notes this usage directly: a person who has or has not a right to sue is said to have or not to have "standing in court." This meaning is closely related to, but distinct from, the full doctrine of standing (locus standi), which has its own entry.

Stand aside (jurors). A historical practice in criminal jury selection by which the prosecuting officer provisionally deferred a juror without stating a reason, allowing the panel to be exhausted before the deferred jurors were reconsidered. See Recognized Forms/Subtypes below.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To be in an erect position; also, as a noun, a defensive position, a resolute opinion, a device to hold something upright, or the platform on which a witness testifies in court.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To be at rest in an erect position; to be fixed in an upright or firm position, as opposed to lying, sitting, or kneeling.

The witness-stand sense of the noun travels cleanly from common to legal usage with no meaningful gap. The divergence appears in the verb: in ordinary speech, to stand means to be upright; in legal usage, it means to remain in force, to submit to, or to appear before a tribunal — none of which carry physical posture as their primary content.

Common Confusion

STAND vs. STANDING. "Stand" in its truncated procedural sense (to have or not have standing in court) is often collapsed into the full constitutional and prudential doctrine of standing (locus standi). They are related but not interchangeable. The bare verb "stand" describes the state of having that right; the doctrine of standing encompasses the entire framework — constitutional minimums (injury, causation, redressability), prudential limitations, and congressional conferral — governing who may invoke federal judicial power. Research that conflates the two may miss the doctrinal architecture that determines threshold justiciability.

STAND YOUR GROUND vs. DUTY TO RETREAT. "Stand your ground" in modern criminal law refers to statutes eliminating the duty to retreat before using defensive force outside the home. This is a specific statutory doctrine, not a general use of the word "stand." Historical sources will not reflect this usage; it is a product of late twentieth and early twenty-first century legislative reform.

Recognized Forms

/SUBTYPES

Stand aside (jurors): A prosecutorial practice in criminal jury selection, codified in English law by the Statute 33 Edw. I (1303), by which the Crown could defer a prospective juror provisionally without stating a cause of challenge. The juror was set aside until the panel was exhausted, at which point the deferred jurors were reconsidered. The practice differed from a peremptory challenge in that no definitive rejection occurred until the panel ran out. American practice developed separately, and this specific form largely dropped from American procedural vocabulary in favor of the peremptory challenge framework.

Witness stand: The designated location — a raised platform, box, or designated chair — from which a witness testifies. The phrase "take the stand" signals the commencement of testimony; "leave the stand" signals its conclusion.

Why It Matters in Research

The multiplicity of meanings is the central research hazard. A court order stating that a ruling or pleading "shall stand" is doing something entirely different from a procedural record noting that the accused "stood trial" or a preliminary opinion discussing whether a party has "standing." Indexing and keyword searches across historical corpora will surface all of these uses without distinguishing them.

The stand-aside practice is a particular trap in English and early American criminal procedure sources. A researcher examining jury challenge practice in nineteenth-century materials will encounter "stand aside" as a term of art with a specific procedural meaning that has no direct modern American counterpart. Anderson's cross-reference to Edw. I is the most useful anchoring point in the historical dictionary shelf.

The truncated "stand in court" usage bridges directly to the modern standing doctrine, but the constitutional architecture of that doctrine — rooted in Article III case-or-controversy requirements and developed through twentieth-century federal jurisprudence — will not appear in any of the historical shelf sources. Bouvier, Black's (either edition), and Anderson all treat "stand" as a matter of procedural description, not constitutional threshold. Researchers tracing standing doctrine must move from these dictionary entries into constitutional law encyclopedias and federal case law.

For stand your ground, the historical dictionaries are silent. The doctrine is entirely post-historical-shelf in origin and must be researched through modern statutory sources and the Criminal Law Encyclopedia entry.

Historical Dictionary Support

The four shelf sources agree on core meaning. All treat "stand" primarily as a verb of procedural submission or persistence: to abide by, to remain in force, to appear. Bouvier is the most concise and explicitly frames the term around compliance and submission. Black's (both editions) adds the juror stand-aside practice and the allowance of pleadings to stand after demurrer — the most procedurally specific usages on the shelf.

Anderson's is the most useful for research because it explicitly bridges "stand" to "standing in court" and cross-references STATUS, pointing researchers toward the relational concept of who has the right to be heard. That cross-reference is more helpful than anything in Black's for understanding how historical usage connects to modern justiciability doctrine.

None of the shelf sources address the witness stand as a noun in any developed way, though the courtroom presence sense is implicit in "to appear in court." The stand your ground doctrine is, as noted, entirely absent.

Jurisdictional Note

The witness stand and its procedural vocabulary are universal in American practice, though the physical configuration varies. The stand-aside practice, rooted in English statutory history, does not survive in recognizable form in American federal or state criminal procedure, where challenge practice is governed by rules of court and constitutional Sixth Amendment jurisprudence. Stand your ground statutes exist in roughly half of U.S. states; the doctrine does not apply in jurisdictions retaining a duty to retreat.

Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

Standing — Prudential Limitations and Congressional Conferral (The Law Mind Constitutional Law Encyclopedia)
Fourth Amendment — Standing to Challenge a Search (The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia)
Self-Defense — Stand Your Ground Laws (The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia)

STANDmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

To abide; to submit to; as "to stand a trial." To remain as a thing is; to remain in force. Pleadings demurred to and held good are al- lowed to stand. To appear in court.

STANDmain

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

To abide; to submit to: as “to stand a trial.” > To remain as a thing is; to remain in force. Pleadings demurred to and held good are allowed to stand. To appear in court. —Stan aside jurors. A practice by which, on the drawing of a jury for a criminal rosecuting officer puts aside a juror, provisionally, until the panel is exhausted. without disclosing his reasons, instead of being required to challenge him and show cause. The statute 33 Edw. I. deprived the crown of the power to challenge jurors without showing cause, and the practice of standing aside jurors was adopted, in England. as a method of evading its provisions. A similar practice is in use in Pennsylvania. See Warren v. Com., 37 Pa. 54; Zell v. Com., 94 Pa. 272; Haines v. Com.. 106 Pa. 322. But in Missouri, it is said that ne words Kohat aside’”’ oe usual formula, used in impaneling a jury, for rejecting a juror. State v. Hultz, 106 ito. 41,16 S. WV. 840. —Stan by is used in law as implying knowledge. under such circumstances as _ rendered it the duty of the possessor to communicate it; and it is such knowledge, and not the mere fact of “standing by,’’ that lays the foundation of responsibility. ‘The phrase does not import an actual presence, “but implies knowl- ‘edge under such circumstances as to render jt the duty of the possessor to communicate it.” Anderson v. Hubble, 93 Ind. 573, 47 Am. Rep. ‘394; Gatling v. Rodman, 6 Ind. 292; Richardson v. Chickering, 41 N. H. 380, 77 Am. Dec. 769; Morrison v. Morrison, 2 Dana (Ky.) 16. —Standing mute. A prisoner, arraigned for treason or felony, was said to “stand mute,” when he refused to plead, or answered foreign to the purpose, or, after a plea of not guilty, would not put himself upon the country.— Standing orders are rules and forms regulating the procedure of the two houses of parliament, each having its own. They are of equal force in every parliament, except so far as they are altered or suspended from time to time. Cox, Inst. 186; May, Parl. Pr. 185.—Standing seised to uses. <A covenant to stand seised to uses is one by which the owner of an estate covenants to hold the same to the use of another person, usually a relative, and usually in considi It is a species of conveyance depending for its effect on the statuses.

STANDmain

Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890

Pleadings and transactions which cannot be shown to be illegal are said "to stand;" and a person who has or has not a right to sue is said to have or not to have "standing in court." Compare STATUS. Stand aside. Statute 33 Edw. I (1303) plied; sometimes a longer period than that prescribed forbade the crown to challenge jurors except by the statute is required; in some cases a shorter time is sufficient; and sometimes the rule is applied where there is no statutable bar. It is competent for the court to apply the inherent principles of its own for cause shown. A rule of practice then arose which permitted the prosecution to direct jurors to "stand aside until the whole system of jurisprudence, and to decide accordingly. panel be gone through and it appear that there will be a full jury without the persons so challenged." Length of time necessarily obscures all human evidence, and deprives parties of the means of ascertaining the nature of original transactions; it operates by way of presumption in favor of the party in possession. Long acquiescence and laches by parties out of possession are productive of much hardship and injustice to others and cannot be excused but by showing some actual hinderance or impediment caused by Stand by. To know of a thing being done the fraud or concealment of the party in possession, against one's right and not to protest until which will appeal to the conscience of the chancellor.2 See DELAY; LIMITATION, 3.

STANDv.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

To be at rest in an erect position; to be fixed in an upright or firm position; as: To be supported on the feet, in an erect or nearly erect position; -- opposed to lie, sit, kneel, etc. "I pray you all, stand up!" Shak. To continue upright in a certain locality, as a tree fixed by the roots, or a building resting on its foundation. It stands as it were to the ground yglued. Chaucer. The ruined wall Stands when its wind worn battlements are gone. Byron. To occupy or hold a place; to have a situation; to be situated or located; as, Paris stands on the Seine. Wite ye not where there stands a little town Chaucer. To cease from progress; not to proceed; to stop; to pause; to halt; to remain stationary. I charge thee, stand, And tell thy name. Dryden. The star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. Matt. ii. 9. To remain without ruin or injury; to hold good against tendencies to impair or injure; to be permanent; to endure; to last; hence, to find endurance, strength, or resources. My mind on its own center stands unmoved. Dryden. To maintain one's ground; to be acquitted; not to fail or yield; to be safe. Readers by whose judgment I would stand or fall. Spectator. To maintain an invincible or permanent attitude; to be fixed, steady, or firm; to take a position in resistance or opposition. "The standing pattern of their imitation." South. The king granted the Jews . . . to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life. Esther viii. 11. To adhere to fixed principles; to maintain moral rectitude; to keep from falling into error or vice. We must labor so as to stand with godliness, according to his appointment. Latimer. To have or maintain a position, order, or rank; to be in a particular relation; as, Christian charity, or love, stands first in the rank of gifts. To be in some particular state; to have essence or being; to be; to consist. "Sacrifices . . . which stood only in meats and drinks." Heb. ix. 10. Accomplish what your signs foreshow; I stand resigned, and am prepared to go. Dryden. Thou seest how it stands with me, and that I may not tarry. Sir W. Scott. To be consistent; to agree; to accord. Doubt me not; by heaven, I will do nothing But what may stand with honor. Massinger. To hold a course at sea; as, to stand from the shore; to stand for the harbor. From the same parts of heaven his navy stands. Dryden. To offer one's self, or to be offered, as a candidate. He stood to be elected one of the proctors of the university. Walton. To stagnate; not to flow; to be motionless. Or the black water of Pomptina stands. Dryden. To measure when erect on the feet. Six feet two, as I think, he stands. Tennyson. To be or remain as it is; to continue in force; to have efficacy or validity; to abide. Bouvier. To appear in court. Burrill. Stand by (Naut.), a preparatory order, equivalent to Be ready.  -- To stand against, to opposite; to resist.  -- To stand by. (a) To be near; to be a spectator; to be present. To be aside; to be aside with disregard. "In the interim [we] let the commands stand by neglected." Dr. H. More. (c) To maintain; to defend; to support; not to desert; as, to stand by one's principles or party. (d) To rest on for support; to be supported by. Whitgift.  -- To stand corrected, to be set right, as after an error in a statement of fact. Wycherley.  -- To stand fast, to be fixed; to be unshaken or immovable.  -- To stand firmly on, to be satisfied or convinced of. "Though Page be a secure fool, and stands so firmly on his wife's frailty." Shak.  -- To stand for. (a) To side with; to espouse the cause of; to support; to maintain, or to profess or attempt to maintain; to defend. "I stand wholly for you." Shak. (b) To be in the place of; to be the substitute or to represent; as, a cipher at the left hand of a figure stands for nothing. "I will not trouble myself, whether these names stand for the same thing, or really include one another." Locke.  -- To stand in, to cost. "The same standeth them in much less cost." Robynson (More's Utopia). The Punic wars could not have stood the human race in less than three millions of the species. Burke. -- To stand in hand, to conduce to one's interest; to be serviceable or advantageous.  -- To stand off. (a) To keep at a distance. (b) Not to comply. (c) To keep at a distance in friendship, social intercourse, or acquaintance. (d) To appear prominent; to have relief. "Picture is best when it standeth off, as if it were carved." Sir H. Wotton.  -- To stand off and on (Naut.), to remain near a coast by sailing toward land and then from it.  -- To stand on (Naut.), to continue on the same tack or course.  -- To stand out. (a) To project; to be prominent. "Their eyes stand out with fatness." Psalm lxxiii. 7. (b) To persist in opposition or resistance; not to yield or comply; not to give way or recede. His spirit is come in, That so stood out against the holy church. Shak. -- To stand to. (a) To ply; to urge; to persevere in using. "Stand to your tackles, mates, and stretch your oars." Dryden. (b) To remain fixed in a purpose or opinion. "I will stand to it, that this is his sense." Bp. Stillingfleet. (c) To abide by; to adhere to; as to a contrast, assertion, promise, etc.; as, to stand to an award; to stand to one's word. (d) Not to yield; not to fly; to maintain, as one's ground. "Their lives and fortunes were put in safety, whether they stood to it or ran away." Bacon. (e) To be consistent with; to agree with; as, it stands to reason that he could not have done so. To support; to uphold. "Stand to me in this cause." Shak.  -- To stand together, to be consistent; to agree.  -- To stand to sea (Naut.), to direct the course from land.  -- To stand under, to undergo; to withstand. Shak.  -- To stand up. (a) To rise from sitting; to be on the feet. (b) To arise in order to speak or act. "Against whom, when the accusers stood up, they brought none accusation of such things as I supposed." Acts xxv. 18. (c) To rise and stand on end, as the hair. (d) To put one's self in opposition; to contend. "Once we stood up about the corn." Shak.  -- To stand up for, to defend; to justify; to support, or attempt to support; as, to stand up for the administration.  -- To stand upon. (a) To concern; to interest. (b) To value; to esteem. "We highly esteem and stand much upon our birth." Ray. (c) To insist on; to attach much importance to; as, to stand upon security; to stand upon ceremony. (d) To attack; to assault. [A Hebraism] "So I stood upon him, and slew him." 2 Sam. i. 10.  -- To stand with, to be consistent with. "It stands with reason that they should be rewarded liberally." Sir J. Davies.

STANDv.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

To endure; to sustain; to bear; as, I can not stand the cold or the heat. To resist, without yielding or receding; to withstand. "Love stood the siege." Dryden. He stood the furious foe. Pope. To abide by; to submit to; to suffer. Bid him disband his legions, . . . And stand the judgment of a Roman senate. Addison. To set upright; to cause to stand; as, to stand a book on the shelf; to stand a man on his feet. To be at the expense of; to pay for; as, to stand a treat. [Colloq.] Tackeray. To stand fire, to receive the fire of arms from an enemy without giving way.  -- To stand one's ground, to keep the ground or station one has taken; to maintain one's position. "Pleasants and burghers, however brave, are unable to stand their ground against veteran soldiers." Macaulay.  -- To stand trial, to sustain the trial or examination of a cause; not to give up without trial.

STANDn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

The act of standing. I took my stand upon an eminence . . . to look into thier several ladings. Spectator. A halt or stop for the purpose of defense, resistance, or opposition; as, to come to, or to make, a stand. Vice is at stand, and at the highest flow. Dryden. A place or post where one stands; a place where one may stand while observing or waiting for something. I have found you out a stand most fit, Where you may have such vantage on the duke, He shall not pass you. Shak. A station in a city or town where carriages or wagons stand for hire; as, a cab stand. Dickens. A raised platform or station where a race or other outdoor spectacle may be viewed; as, the judge's or the grand stand at a race course. A small table; also, something on or in which anything may be laid, hung, or placed upright; as, a hat stand; an umbrella stand; a music stand. A place where a witness stands to testify in court. The situation of a shop, store, hotel, etc.; as, a good, bad, or convenient stand for business. [U. S.] Rank; post; station; standing. Father, since your fortune did attain So high a stand, I mean not to descend. Daniel. A state of perplexity or embarrassment; as, to be at a stand what to do. L'Estrange. A young tree, usually reserved when other trees are cut; also, a tree growing or standing upon its own root, in distinction from one produced from a scion set in a stock, either of the same or another kind of tree. A weight of from two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds, -- used in weighing pitch. Microscope stand, the instrument, excepting the eyepiece, objective, and other removable optical parts.  -- Stand of ammunition, the projectile, cartridge, and sabot connected together.  -- Stand of arms. (Mil.) See under Arms.  -- Stand of colors (Mil.), a single color, or flag. Wilhelm (Mil. Dict.) -- To be at a stand, to be stationary or motionless; to be at a standstill; hence, to be perplexed; to be embarrassed.  -- To make a stand, to halt for the purpose of offering resistance to a pursuing enemy.

standnoun

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.

The act of standing. | A defensive position or effort. | A resolute, unwavering position; firm opinion; action for a purpose in the face of opposition. | A period of performance in a given location or venue. | A device to hold something upright or aloft. | The platform on which a witness testifies in court; the witness stand or witness box. | An area of raised seating for waiters at the stock exchange. | A particular grove or other group of trees or shrubs. | A contiguous group of trees sufficiently uniform in age-class distribution, composition, and structure, and growing on a site of sufficiently uniform quality, to be a distinguishable unit. | A standstill, a motionless state, as of someone confused, or a hunting dog who has found game. | A small building, booth, or stage, as in a bandstand or hamburger stand. | A designated spot where someone or something may stand or wait. | The situation of a shop, store, hotel, etc. | Ellipsis of tavern stand (“a roadside inn”). | Grandstand. (often in the plural) | A partnership. | A single set, as of arms. | Rank; post; station; standing. | A state of perplexity or embarrassment. | A young tree, usually reserved when other trees are cut; also, a tree growing or standing upon its own root, in distinction from one produced from a scion set in a stock, either of the same or another kind of tree. | A location or position where one may stand. | An advertisement filling an entire billboard, comprising many sheets of paper.

standverb

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

To position or be positioned physically: | To support oneself on the feet in an erect position. | To position or be positioned physically: | To rise to one’s feet; to stand up. | To position or be positioned physically: | To remain motionless. | To position or be positioned physically: | To be placed in an upright or vertical orientation. | To position or be positioned physically: | To place in an upright or standing position. | To position or be positioned physically: | To occupy or hold a place; to be set, placed, fixed, located, or situated. | To position or be positioned physically: | To measure when erect on the feet. | To position or be positioned physically: | To be present, to have welled up. | To position or be positioned mentally: | To be positioned to gain or lose. | To position or be positioned mentally: | To tolerate. | To position or be positioned mentally: | To maintain one's ground; to be acquitted; not to fail or yield; to be safe. | To position or be positioned mentally: | To maintain an invincible or permanent attitude; to be fixed, steady, or firm; to take a position in resistance or opposition. | To position or be positioned mentally: | To be in some particular state; to have essence or being; to be; to consist. | To position or be positioned socially: | To act as an umpire. | To position or be positioned socially: | To undergo; withstand; hold up. | To position or be positioned socially: | To be a candidate (in an election). | To position or be positioned socially: | To remain valid. | To position or be positioned socially: | To oppose, usually as a team, in competition. | To position or be positioned socially: | To cover the expense of; to pay for. | To position or be positioned socially: | To have or maintain a position, order, or rank; to be in a particular relation. | To position or be positioned socially: | To be consistent; to agree; to accord. | To position or be positioned socially: | To appear in court. | Of a ship or its captain, to steer, sail (in a specified direction, for a specified destination etc.). | To remain without ruin or injury. | To stop asking for more cards; to keep one's hand as it has been dealt so far.

standnoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

A container which stands upright, such as a barrel or cask. | A weight of from two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds, used in weighing pitch.

Explore the full Law Mind legal research platform.

Subscribe Encyclopedia Sign In