STYLE - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

STYLEAuthored

The Law Mind • 1016 words

Definition

In law, STYLE has two distinct but related meanings:

1. As a verb: To call, name, or formally entitle a person or entity. A court styles a party when it designates them by their legal name or capacity in a proceeding.

2. As a noun: The title or formal appellation of a person, court, or legal proceeding. In its most common modern usage, the style of a case — also called the caption or title of the action — is the formal heading of a legal document or judicial proceeding that identifies the parties and their respective roles (e.g., plaintiff and defendant).

In older usage, style also referred to the formal title or designation of a sovereign, official body, or office — the full ceremonial name by which a monarch or institution was known. Courts themselves were said to have a style, meaning their official name as recognized in law.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A thin, pointed writing instrument; a stylus used on clay tablets or wax surfaces. Also, more broadly in modern English, style refers to a manner of doing something, a fashion, or a distinctive aesthetic approach.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): An instrument used by the ancients for writing on wax tablets, with one sharp end for writing and one blunt end for erasing. By extension, any pointed writing tool; an author's pen.

The gap between the common and legal meanings is significant. Common usage anchors style in physical instruments (the stylus) or aesthetic character (fashion, manner). Legal usage has nothing to do with either. In law, style is about formal naming and titling — a procedural and ceremonial function. The stylus connection is historically real (writing instruments gave rise to the word), but a researcher encountering "style" in a legal document should not read it as anything other than a formal title or designation.

Common Confusion

STYLE vs. CAPTION vs. TITLE OF THE ACTION: These three terms are frequently used interchangeably to mean the formal heading of a pleading or court document identifying the parties. In practice, caption is the dominant modern term in American procedure; style is more common in older sources and in some Southern jurisdictions, where it remains in regular use. Title of the action appears in procedural rules (see, e.g., Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 10(a)). Researchers should not assume a document that uses "style" is using an archaic formulation — in Texas and other states, it remains the standard operative term.

STYLE vs. TITLE: In the sense of a person's formal designation, style and title overlap substantially. The distinction, when drawn, is that title refers to a right or claim (title to property, a noble title attached to rank), while style is the verbal expression of that designation — how one is properly addressed or named. A king has a title; he is styled "His Majesty."

Why It Matters in Research

Researchers encounter style most often in two contexts: case identification and historical official documents.

In case identification, the style of the case is the formal name under which a proceeding is filed and indexed. Court records, particularly in the American South and in older federal practice, use "style" where other jurisdictions say "caption." Searching historical court indexes by style means searching by party name and case heading — understanding this prevents confusion when navigating docket books or early reporters that organize entries by the style of the action rather than by subject or issue.

In historical documents — royal proclamations, charters, legislative acts, and patents — style carries significant weight. The style of a monarch or official body was a legally operative designation. A grant made in the wrong style could raise questions about authority. Researchers examining colonial-era documents or pre-revolutionary English instruments need to recognize that style is not decorative language but a term of legal precision identifying who is acting and in what capacity.

The Rapalje & Lawrence entry for this term is not useful — the entry appears to be a typographical or indexing error in the source, landing on surrounding terms rather than STYLE itself. Researchers relying on Rapalje & Lawrence for this term will find no substantive guidance there.

Historical dictionaries treat style narrowly, covering the verb/noun pairing (to style / a style) without addressing the case caption usage that dominates modern practice. That gap matters: a researcher using only Black's early editions to understand style in modern procedural documents may miss how central the term is to case indexing and docket organization in certain jurisdictions.

Historical Dictionary Support

Both editions of Black's Law Dictionary present identical, minimal entries: style as a verb means to call or entitle; as a noun, the title or appellation of a person. This formulation captures the core meaning accurately but incompletely. Neither edition develops the case caption usage or the official/sovereign styling usage in any depth. The definition is a reliable starting point but not a finishing point.

Rapalje & Lawrence offers no usable entry on this term. The material indexed under or near STYLE in that source concerns entirely different terms (STREET, STRETCHING, STRICT COMPLIANCE), suggesting an indexing anomaly in the source edition consulted. Researchers should not rely on Rapalje & Lawrence for this entry.

The historical dictionaries agree that style functions as both verb and noun in the naming and titling context. What they collectively miss is the procedural significance of the term — its role as a term of art in case identification that persists into contemporary practice in a meaningful number of American jurisdictions.

Jurisdictional Note

Texas courts use "style of the case" as the standard term for what federal courts and most other states call the caption. Texas Rules of Civil Procedure use style as a defined term of art. Researchers working across state jurisdictions should expect terminological variation: the concept is universal, but style as the operative word for it is not.

STYLEmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

As a verb, to call, name, or en- title one; as a noun, the title or appellation | of a person.

STYLEmain

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

Asa verb, to call, name, or entitle one; as a noun, the title or appellation of a person.

STYLEmain

Rapalje & Lawrence • 1883

(1227) STREET, NEW, (in a statute). 17 Wend. (Ν. Y.) 651. STREET NOT BEING A HIGHWAY, (in a statute). L. R. 9 Q. B. 4. STREET OR PLACE, (in hackney coach act). L. R. 4 Ex. 319. Phil. (Pa.) 106. STREET, REPAVING, (in city ordinance). 9 STRETCHING, (in grants). 5 Johns. (N. Y.) 462; 8 Id. 508. STRICT COMPLIANCE, (does not mean "literal compliance"). 2 Gr. (N. J.) 492.

STYLEn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

An instrument used by the ancients in writing on tablets covered with wax, having one of its ends sharp, and the other blunt, and somewhat expanded, for the purpose of making erasures by smoothing the wax. Hence, anything resembling the ancient style in shape or use. Specifically: -- A pen; an author's pen. Dryden. A sharp-pointed tool used in engraving; a graver. A kind of blunt-pointed surgical instrument. The pin, or gnomon, of a dial, the shadow of which indicates the hour. See Gnomon. (f) Etym: [Probably fr. Gr. (Bot.) The elongated part of a pistil between the ovary and the stigma. See Illust. of Stamen, and of Pistil. Mode of expressing thought in language, whether oral or written; especially, such use of language in the expression of thought as exhibits the spirit and faculty of an artist; choice or arrangement of words in discourse; rhetorical expression. High style, as when that men to kinges write. Chaucer. Style is the dress of thoughts. Chesterfield. Proper words in proper places make the true definition of style. Swift. It is style alone by which posterity will judge of a great work. I. Disraeli. Mode of presentation, especially in music or any of the fine arts; a characteristic of peculiar mode of developing in idea or accomplishing a result. The ornamental style also possesses its own peculiar merit. Sir J. Reynolds. Conformity to a recognized standard; manner which is deemed elegant and appropriate, especially in social demeanor; fashion. According to the usual style of dedications. C. Middleton. Mode or phrase by which anything is formally designated; the title; the official designation of any important body; mode of address; as, the style of Majesty. One style to a gracious benefactor, another to a proud, insulting foe. Burke. A mode of reckoning time, with regard to the Julian and Gregorian calendars.

STYLEv.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

To entitle; to term, name, or call; to denominate. "Styled great conquerors." Milton. How well his worth and brave adventures styled. Dryden.

stylenoun

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.

Senses relating to a thin, pointed object. | A sharp stick used for writing on clay tablets or other surfaces; a stylus; (by extension, obsolete) an instrument used to write with ink; a pen. | Senses relating to a thin, pointed object. | A tool with a sharp point used in engraving; a burin, a graver, a stylet, a stylus. | Senses relating to a thin, pointed object. | The gnomon or pin of a sundial, the shadow of which indicates the hour. | Senses relating to a thin, pointed object. | The stalk that connects the stigma(s) to the ovary in a pistil of a flower. | Senses relating to a thin, pointed object. | A kind of surgical instrument with a blunt point, used for exploration. | Senses relating to a thin, pointed object. | A small, thin, pointed body part. | Senses relating to a thin, pointed object. | A small, thin, pointed body part. | A long, slender, bristle-like process near the anal region. | A particular manner of expression in writing or speech, especially one regarded as good. | A particular manner of expression in writing or speech, especially one regarded as good. | A legal or traditional term or formula of words used to address or refer to a person, especially a monarch or a person holding a post or having a title. | A particular manner of expression in writing or speech, especially one regarded as good. | A style name. | A particular manner of creating, doing, or presenting something, especially a work of architecture or art. | A particular manner of creating, doing, or presenting something, especially a work of architecture or art. | A particular manner of acting or behaving; (specifically) one regarded as fashionable or skilful; flair, grace. | A particular manner of creating, doing, or presenting something, especially a work of architecture or art. | A particular way in which one grooms, adorns, dresses, or carries oneself; (specifically) a way thought to be attractive or fashionable. | A particular manner of creating, doing, or presenting something, especially a work of architecture or art. | A visual or other modification to text or other elements of a document, such as boldface or italics. | A particular manner of creating, doing, or presenting something, especially a work of architecture or art. | A set of rules regarding the presentation of text (spelling, typography, the citation of references, etc.) and illustrations that is applied by a publisher to the works it produces.

styleverb

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

To design, fashion, make, or arrange in a certain way or form (style). | To call or give a name or title to. | To create for, or give to, someone a style, fashion, or image, particularly one which is regarded as attractive, tasteful, or trendy. | To act in a way which seeks to show that one possesses style.

Explore the full Law Mind legal research platform.

Subscribe Encyclopedia Sign In