inchoate

Inchoate

Imperfect; partial; unfinished; begun, but not completed; as in a contract not executed by all the parties.

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

inchoate

adj. or adv. referring to something which has begun but has not been completed, either an activity or some object which is incomplete. It may define a potential crime like a conspiracy which has been started but not perfected or finished, (buying the explosives, but not yet blowing up the bank safe), a right contingent on an event (receiving property if one outlives the grantor of the property), or a decision or idea which has been only partially considered, such as a contract which has not been formalized.

Copyright © 1981-2005 by Gerald N. Hill and Kathleen T. Hill. All Right reserved.

inchoate

not complete.

Collins Dictionary of Law © W.J. Stewart, 2006

INCHOATE. That which is not yet completed or finished. Contracts are considered inchoate until they are executed by all the parties who ought to have executed them. For example, a covenant which purports to be tripartite, and is executed by only two of the parties, is incomplete, and no one is bound by it. 2 Halst. 142. Vide Locus paenitentiae.

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