instrument (redirected from Universal instrument)

A formal or legal written document; a document in writing, such as a deed, lease, bond, contract, or will. A writing that serves as evidence of an individual's right to collect money, such as a check.

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instrument n. 1) a written legal document such as a contract, lease, deed, will or bond. 2) an object used to perform some task or action, ranging from a surgeon's scalpel to any hard thing used in an assault (a blunt instrument).

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instrument (Document), noun bill, certificate, deed, draft, evidential writing, executed and delivered writing, formal writing, official record, official writing, paper, record, solemn writing, syngrapha, tabula, writing delivered as the evidence of an agreement, writing which gives formal expression to a legal act, written formal expression
Associated concepts: allonge, instrument evidencing a debt, instrument of writing, negotiable instrument
Foreign phrases: Mala grammatica non vitiat chartam, sed in expositione instrumentorum mala grammatica quoad fieri possit evitanda est.Bad grammar does not vitiate a deed, but in the drafting of instruments, bad grammar should, as far as possible, be avoided. Ubi nulla est connectura quae ducat alio, verba intelligenda sunt ex proorietate, non grammatica, sed populari ex usu. Where there is nothing which calls for another construction, words are to be understood according to their proper sense, not according to their strict grammatical meaning, but accorddng to their popular sense. Qui haeret in litera haeret in cortice. He who adheres to the letter of an instrument goes but skin deep into its meaning.

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instrument (Tool), noun agency, agent, aid, appliance, article, channel, contributing force, device, equipment, facility, implement, machine, machinery, means, mechanical construction, mechanism, medium, utensil, utility, vehicle
Associated concepts: instrument of fraud

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See also: appliance, blank, certificate, channel, charter, conduit, deed, device, document, expedient, facility, form, forum, indenture, instrumentality, interagent, lease, license, medium, organ, proctor, resource, tool, will

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INSTRUMENT, contracts. The writing which contains some agreement, and is so called because it has been prepared as a memorial of what has taken place or been agreed upon. The agreement and the instrument in which it is contained are very different things, the latter being only evidence of the existence of the former. The instrument or form of the contract may be valid, but the contract itself may be void on account of fraud. Vide Ayl. Parerg. 305; Dunl. Ad. Pr. 220.