Definition
The weight of the container, packaging, or receptacle — such as a box, cask, bag, or barrel — in which goods are held when weighed for sale. Because merchants weigh goods while still in their packaging, tare represents the deduction made to arrive at the net weight of the goods themselves. The term carries two closely related meanings:
1. The actual weight of the container as it contributes to a gross measurement, creating a shortfall between gross weight and the true weight of the merchandise.
2. The allowance or abatement that a seller extends to a buyer to account for that container weight — that is, the agreed deduction from gross weight to arrive at the net weight for purposes of pricing and sale.
In either sense, tare functions as the mechanism by which commercial transactions move from gross weight to net weight. It is a term of trade rather than a term of general legal doctrine, arising most often in disputes over commodity sales, customs duties, and commercial contracts involving goods sold by weight.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To take into account the weight of the container or wrapping when weighing merchandise; also, to set an instrument such as a balance to zero so that the container weight is discounted from future measurements.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "Tore" — the 1913 entry is minimal and uninformative, suggesting the term was treated primarily as a commercial rather than a literary or general word by that period.
The gap between common and legal usage is narrow but worth noting. In everyday and commercial practice today, tare is most often encountered as a verb or a feature of digital scales. In the legal and historical commercial context, tare functions as a noun identifying a specific contractual allowance — the agreed deduction — that could be the subject of dispute, fraud, or customs calculation. A researcher encountering tare in a historical trade or customs document should read it as referring to that allowance, not merely to the physical act of zeroing a scale.
Why It Matters in Research
Tare appears most frequently in three research contexts: commodity sale disputes, customs and tariff records, and weights-and-measures regulation.
In commercial litigation, tare disputes arise when the container weight is misrepresented, leading to a buyer paying for packaging as though it were product. Historical cases involving tare often turn on whether the allowance was expressly agreed, customary in the trade, or calculated by a recognized method.
In customs and tariff records, tare calculations directly affect dutiable value. Government schedules historically provided standardized tare tables for common containers, and disputes over whether the actual or the schedule tare applied appear in customs cases and administrative records. Researchers working with 19th-century import and export records will encounter tare as a recurring line item.
In weights-and-measures law, tare connects to broader regulatory concerns about accurate measurement in trade. Statutes and regulations governing scales, weights, and commercial measurement often addressed tare methodology explicitly.
Note that Anderson's Dictionary of Law provides no substantive entry for tare, redirecting instead to unrelated terms (ADMINISTRARE; COMPU-), suggesting either an editorial omission or a cross-reference error in that edition. Researchers should not treat that source as authoritative on this term.
The companion term TRET — cross-referenced in both Black's editions — is essential reading alongside tare. The two terms governed related but distinct deductions in historical commodity trade and are frequently paired in commercial documents.
Historical Dictionary Support
Both editions of Black's Law Dictionary agree closely on the definition, differing only in minor phrasing and the addition of a case citation (Napier v. Barney, 5 Blatchf. 191) in the second edition. That agreement across editions reflects a stable commercial meaning that did not evolve significantly across the period those dictionaries covered.
Neither Black's edition ventures into the procedural or evidentiary dimensions of tare disputes — how allowances were proved, what customs of the trade governed calculation, or how fraud in tare representation was addressed. Researchers needing that depth should consult treatises on mercantile law and commodity trade rather than relying on the dictionary definitions alone.
The cross-reference to TRET in both Black's editions is the most useful navigational signal in the historical entries. Tret was an allowance made after tare was deducted — typically a further percentage deduction for waste or refuse in certain goods — and the two terms operated together in the accounting of commodity sales.
Jurisdictional Note
Tare calculations in the customs context were historically governed by federal statutory schedules in the United States, which specified approved tare rates for standard containers of particular commodities. State weights-and-measures law addressed tare in retail and intrastate trade. The precise rules varied by commodity and era, making jurisdiction and time period both relevant to any archival research involving tare calculations.