Definition
A Latin abbreviation for videlicet, used in legal and formal writing to mean "namely," "that is to say," or "to wit." It introduces a specification, enumeration, or clarification of something more generally stated immediately before it. Where a term, class, or description has been used broadly, viz. signals that what follows is a particularization of that term—listing the specific items, parties, or conditions it encompasses.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Alternative form of viz., used to mean "namely" or "that is to say."
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "To wit; that is; namely."
The common and legal meanings are essentially identical in function. The legal significance lies not in any difference of definition but in the operative weight viz. carries in a legal instrument. In a pleading, deed, or contract, viz. performs a technical narrowing function: what follows is treated as a precise statement of what was generally described before it, and courts have used this to determine scope, restrict or expand interpretation, and resolve ambiguity in enumeration clauses.
Common Confusion
Viz. is frequently confused with i.e. (that is) and e.g. (for example). The distinction matters in legal documents. E.g. introduces a non-exhaustive example; the list that follows does not limit the general term. Viz., by contrast, is traditionally understood to introduce an exhaustive or definitive specification—the list that follows purports to state the whole of what the general term means. I.e. restates or clarifies without necessarily enumerating. In historical pleading and deed drafting, the choice between these abbreviations could affect whether a court construed a list as limiting or merely illustrative.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working with historical pleadings, deeds, patents, and statutes will encounter viz. with high frequency. Its interpretive significance—exhaustive specification versus mere illustration—was a live question in common law pleading and conveyancing, and courts occasionally turned on whether the drafter's use of viz. was intended to restrict the scope of an antecedent general term.
In older corpus materials, spelling and punctuation vary considerably: "viz." with a period, "viz" without, "vizt" (an archaic contraction), and full-form "videlicet" all appear. When searching historical sources, researchers should run variations. The second edition of Black's contains a typographical error ("videticet" and stray characters), a reminder that OCR-processed historical sources require verification against the original.
Anderson's entry nominally points to viz. but pivots immediately into a discussion of voidable acts—suggesting the original source had a formatting or cross-reference error. Researchers should not rely on Anderson's entry here for substantive content on this term; it is useful only as a pointer to the videlicet entry.
Because viz. appears in operative clauses of instruments, its placement relative to the granting clause, the habendum, or a list of covenants can affect how courts interpret the document's scope. This is particularly relevant in historical land records, letters patent, and probate instruments in the Law Mind corpus.
Historical Dictionary Support
All three source dictionaries agree on the core meaning: viz. is a contraction of videlicet, equivalent to "to wit" or "namely." Black's first edition is concise and accurate. Black's second edition gives the same substance despite the apparent typographic corruption in the entry. Anderson's, while nominally cross-referencing the term, fails to deliver usable content on viz. itself and instead bleeds into an unrelated discussion of void and voidable acts—a known artifact of certain historical dictionary layouts where entries ran together in print.
None of the historical dictionaries address the interpretive consequences of using viz. versus other specifying terms in a legal instrument. For that dimension, researchers should consult historical treatises on pleading and conveyancing directly.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Videlicet; Latin and Law French Terms in Common Law Practice; Pleading (Common Law Forms)