WIT - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

WITAuthored

The Law Mind • 1000 words

Definition

An archaic English verb meaning to know, to be aware of, or to come to know. In modern legal usage, "wit" is encountered almost exclusively in the phrase "to wit," which functions as an introductory or explanatory formula equivalent to "that is to say," "namely," or "videlicet." The phrase signals that what follows specifies, enumerates, or clarifies what was stated immediately before.

As a standalone verb, "wit" is obsolete in both ordinary and legal writing. As the fixed phrase "to wit," it remains active in legal drafting, pleadings, indictments, deeds, and formal instruments, though it is increasingly replaced by plain-English equivalents.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To know, be aware of (constructed with of when used intransitively).

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To know; to learn. "I wot and wist alway." — Chaucer.

The common and legal meanings here are not in conflict — both refer to knowing or learning — but the gap lies in register and survival. The verb "wit" has disappeared entirely from ordinary modern English, while its infinitive phrase "to wit" has survived as a legal term of art with a specific syntactic role. A researcher encountering "to wit" in a legal document should not read it as a mere archaism; it is a functional marker of enumeration or specification with pleading and drafting significance.

Common Confusion

WIT vs. VIDELICET (viz.) vs. SCILICET (ss. or to wit): These three terms are frequently used interchangeably in historical legal instruments, and the historical dictionaries treat them as near-equivalents. They are not identical in origin or strict usage. Videlicet (commonly abbreviated "viz.") derives from Latin and means "it is permissible to see" or "namely." Scilicet (abbreviated "ss." or "scil.") means "it is permitted to know" and appears most often in the venue clause of pleadings and affidavits. "To wit" is the English-language equivalent performing the same function. In practice, courts have treated all three as interchangeable signals of specification, but researchers working with historical pleadings should recognize that "ss." in a venue clause carries its own distinct pleading convention and should not be read as a generic synonym.

Why It Matters in Research

The primary research value of this entry is navigational: knowing what "to wit" does in a document prevents misreading and helps locate the operative content.

In pleadings and indictments, "to wit" introduces the specific facts, dates, names, or amounts that give legal precision to a general allegation. In historical indictments especially, the phrase separates the general charge from the particularized statement of the offense. Researchers analyzing the sufficiency of historical pleadings must read everything following "to wit" as the material specification — the part subject to challenge for variance or surplusage.

In deeds and conveyancing instruments, "to wit" introduces the legal description of property or the specific parcels being conveyed after a general description. Missing this structural role can cause a researcher to misidentify which text controls.

"Wittingly" — a derivative noted in Anderson — carries its own legal weight in older statutes and instruments, meaning knowingly or with conscious awareness. Researchers encountering "wittingly" in historical penal statutes should treat it as a mens rea term equivalent to "knowingly" in modern criminal law, not merely as an intensifier.

The Burrill entry, though unhelpfully scrambled in the source material, references "wite" — a related but distinct Anglo-Saxon term for a fine or penalty paid to the crown. Researchers in early English legal history should not conflate "wit" (to know) with "wite" (a monetary penalty). The two terms have entirely separate lineages and legal functions.

Historical Dictionary Support

The historical dictionaries are in strong agreement on the core point: "wit" means to know, and "to wit" is its surviving legal form, equivalent to "that is to say" or "namely." Black's first and second editions are nearly identical on this point. Anderson adds the useful derivative "wittingly," glossed as "knowingly, designedly," which bridges the archaic verb to its surviving practical significance in mens rea analysis. Bouvier is spare but consistent.

Rapalje & Lawrence and Burrill contribute nothing usable on this specific term — their entries in the source material are clearly misfiled or corrupted, pulling text from unrelated entries (Burrill's material concerns wite and admiralty law; Rapalje pulls from entries on guilt and eldest). Researchers should not rely on those sources for this term.

None of the historical dictionaries address the structural role of "to wit" in modern drafting practice, its relationship to the plain-English drafting movement, or how courts have treated variance between a general allegation and the specification introduced by "to wit." Those questions require recourse to treatises on pleading and drafting rather than to the historical dictionaries.

Jurisdictional Note

The phrase "to wit" appears across all common-law jurisdictions. Its treatment in pleading sufficiency — particularly whether a variance between the general allegation and the "to wit" specification is fatal — varies by jurisdiction and era. Researchers working with pre-code pleading in American state courts should consult jurisdiction-specific pleading treatises, as the common-law rules on this point were not uniform.

WITmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

To know; to learn; to be informed. Used only in the infinitive, to-wit, which term is equivalent to "that is to say," "name- ly," or "videlicet."

WITmain

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

To know; to learn; to be informed. Used only in the infinitive, to-rcit, which term is equivalent to “that is to say,” ‘“namely,” or “videlicet.”

WITmain

Rapalje & Lawrence • 1888

solved in the same ways as those in which it is contracted. EISNE.-The eldest. GUILT.-In its most general sense, "guilt" is imputability. In its narrower and more usual sense, it is the imputability of some offence to an accused person as its perpetrator. The person alleging such imputability has the onus probandi thrown

WITv.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

To know; to learn. "I wot and wist alway." Chaucer.

WITn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

Mind; intellect; understanding; sense. Who knew the wit of the Lord or who was his counselor Wyclif (Rom. xi. 34). A prince most prudent, of an excellent And unmatched wit and judgment. Shak. Will puts in practice what wit deviseth. Sir J. Davies. He wants not wit the dander to decline. Dryden. A mental faculty, or power of the mind; -- used in this sense chiefly in the plural, and in certain phrases; as, to lose one's wits; at one's wits' end, and the like. "Men's wittes ben so dull." Chaucer. I will stare him out of his wits. Shak. Felicitous association of objects not usually connected, so as to produce a pleasant surprise; also. the power of readily combining objects in such a manner. The definition of wit is only this, that it is a propriety of thoughts and words; or, in other terms, thoughts and words elegantly adapted to the subject. Dryden. Wit which discovers partial likeness hidden in general diversity. Coleridge. Wit lying most in the assemblage of ideas, and putting those together with quickness and variety wherein can be found any resemblance or congruity, thereby to make up pleasant pictures in the fancy. Locke. A person of eminent sense or knowledge; a man of genius, fancy, or humor; one distinguished for bright or amusing sayings, for repartee, and the like. In Athens, where books and wits were ever busier than in any other part of Greece, I find but only two sorts of writings which the magistrate cared to take notice of; those either blasphemous and atheistical, or libelous. Milton. Intemperate wits will spare neither friend nor foe. L'Estrange. A wit herself, Amelia weds a wit. Young. The five wits, the five senses; also, sometimes, the five qualities or faculties, common wit, imagination, fantasy, estimation, and memory. Chaucer. Nares. But my five wits nor my five senses can Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee. Shak.

witverb

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.

To know, be aware of (constructed with of when used intransitively).

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