Effect

Effect

As a verb, to do; to produce; to make; to bring to pass; to execute; enforce; accomplish. As a noun, that which is produced by an agent or cause; result; outcome; consequence. The result that an instrument between parties will produce in their relative rights, or which a statute will produce upon the existing law, as discovered from the language used, the forms employed, or other materials for construing it. The operation of a law, of an agreement, or an act. The phrases take effect, be in force, and go into operation, are used interchangeably.

In the plural, a person's effects are the real and Personal Property of someone who has died or who makes a will.

West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

EFFECT. The operation of a law, of an agreement, or an act, is called its effect.
     2. By the laws of the United States, a patent cannot be granted for an effect only, but it may be for a new mode or application of machinery to produce effects. 1 Gallis. 478; see 4 Mason, 1; Pet. C. C. R. 394; 2 N. H. R. 61.

A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856.