(A) civil law. A term used in the civil law, by which is meant a person’s making a new species or subject from materials belonging to another. 2. When the new species can be again reduced to the matter of which it was made, the law considers the former mass as still existing, and, therefore, the new species as an accessory to the former subject; but where the thing made cannot be so reduced, as in the case of wine, which cannot be again turned into grapes, there is no place for the fiction juris; and, there, the workmanship draws after it the property of the material. (B) practice, contracts. A particular and detailed account of a thing: example, in order to obtain a patent for an invention, it is necessary to file a specification or an instrument of writing, which must lay open and disclose to the public every part of the process by which the invention can be made useful if the specification does not contain the whole truth relative to the discovery, or contains more than is requisite to produce the desired effect, and the concealment or addition was made for the purpose of deception, the patent would be void; for if the specification were insufficient on account of its want of clearness, exactitude or good faith, it would be a fraud on society that the patentee should obtain a monopoly without giving up his invention. 2. In charges against persons accused of military offences, they must be particularly described and clearly expressed; this is called the specification. (C) Patent law: The part of a patent application which describes the purpose of the patent, its structure and mechanics and the how the invention works or operates, in addition to mentioning prior art.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
As used in the law relating to patents and in building contracts, the term denotes a particular or detailed statement of the various elements involved.
In military law. The clear and particular description of the charges preferred against a person accused of a military offense. Tytler, Mil. Law, 109; Carter v. McClaughry, 183 U. S. 365, 22 Sup. Ct 181, 46 L. Ed. 236.
In the law of personal property. The acquisition of title to a thing by working it into new forms or species from the raw material; corresponding to the apccificatio of the Roman law. See Lampton v. Preston, 1 J. J. Marsh. (Ky.) 462, 1? Am. Dec. 104.
In practice. A detailed and particular enumeration of several points or matters urged or relied on by a party to a suit or proceeding; as, a “specification of errors,” or a “specification of grounds of opposition to a bankrupt’s discharge.”