DATE

Definition of DATE in Black's Law Dictionary 4th Edition – Legal dictionary – Glossary of legal terms.

Definition of DATE

The specification or mention, in a written instrument, of the time (day, month and year) when it was made. Also the time so specified. Interior Linseed Co. v. Becker-Moore Paint Co., 273 Mo. 433, 202 S.W. 566, 569; In re Carpenter's Estate, 172 Cal. 268, 156 P. 464, 465, L.R.A.1916E, 498; State v. Beckley, 192 Wis. 367, 212 N.W. 792, 793; Heller v. Sweeney, 101 N.J.Eq. 150, 135 A. 264, 265.

The word is derived from the Latin word "datum" meaning given and is defined as the time given or specified-in some way ascertained and fixed. The time when an instrument was made, acknowledged, delivered or recorded; the clause or memorandum which specifies that fact; and the time from which its operation is to be reckoned. In re Irvine's Estate, 114 Mont. 577, 139 P.2d 489, 490, 491, 47 A.L.R. 882.

That part of a deed or writing which expresses the day of the month and year in which it was made or given. 2 Bl.Comm. 304; Tomlins.

The primary signification of date is not time in the abstract, nor time taken absolutely, but time given or specified; time in some way ascertained and fixed. When we speak of the date of a deed, date of issue of a bond or date of a policy, we do not mean the time when it was actually executed, but the time of its execution, as given or stated in the deed itself. The date of an item, or of a charge in a book-account, is not necessarily the time when the article charged was, in fact, furnished, but rather the time given or set down in the account, in connection with such charge. And so the expression "the date of the last work done, or materials furnished," in a mechanic's lien law, may be taken, in the absence of anything in the act indicating a different intention, to mean the time when such work was done or materials furnished, as specified in the plaintiff's written claim. Bement v. Manufacturing Co., 32 N.J.Law, 513; Mutual Life Ins. Co. of New York v. Hurni Packing Co., 263 U.S. 167, 44 S.Ct. 90, 68 L.Ed. 235, 31 A.L.R. 102; Mutual Life Ins. Co. of New York v. Hurni Packing Co., C.C.A.Iowa, 280 F. 18, 20; Turner v. Roseberry Irr. Dist., 33 Idaho, 746, 198 P. 465, 467.

The precise meaning of date, however, depends upon context, since there are numerous instances when it means actual as distinguished from conventional time. Buckhannon & N. R. Co. v. Great Scott Coal & Coke Co., 75 W. Va. 423, 83 S.E. 1031, 1033; London Guarantee & Accident Co. v. Empire Plow Co., 115 Ohio St. 684, 155 N.E. 382, 384; National Liberty Ins. Co. v. Norman, C.C.A.N.C., 11 F.2d 59, 61; Cantrell v. Prudential Ins. Co. of America, 189 Wash. 99, 63 P.2d 509, 510.

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