CORPUS JURIS SECUNDUM

A COMPLETE RESTATEMENT OF THE ENTIRE

AMERICAN LAW

Volume Fifty-One
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The following is copyrighted by The American Law Book Company, Brooklyn, N.Y., in
association with West Publishing Co.
 Label

Label. There is no essential difference in the meaning of the term “label” as used in
commerce and in common speech. The word has been variously defined as meaning a
narrow slip of silk, paper, parchment, etc., affixed to anything denoting its contents,
ownership, and the like; a placard or slip attached to an object to denote its contents,
destination, or ownership; a slip of paper or any other material bearing a name, title
address, or the like, affixed to something to indicate its nature, contents, ownership,
destination, or other particulars; a slip of paper, parchment, cloth, leather, metal, etc,
affixed to anything, and indicating, usually by an inscription, the contents, ownership,
destination, rating, etc; as the label on a bottle, or book, or a fuse; a small piece of paper,
or other material, containing the name; title, or description, and affixed to indicate its
nature or contents; a mark or tag; an identification by inscription of the contents,
ownership, etc.; also; a narrow slip of paper affixed to a deed ot writ to bear the seal.

According to standard lexicographers, the term includes a slip or tag of paper, or other
material bearing the description in the form of a word or words, name, monogram, letter,
scroll, or trade-mark indicating the character, origin, or destination of the article to which
it is attached.

The most general idea of a label is not a separate paper, invoice, or parchment,
completely detached from the article or package it describes, but rather a written
description of the article upon which it is place or made, as to its ownership, or character,
or quality or extent.

That the word ‘label’ signifies a paper or other substance attached to something is
indicated by the fact that the term formerly in England was the official word for postage
stamp.

In the common use of language the words “label” and “mark” are interchangeable, and
“label” has been compared with, and distinguished from, “stamp”.

The word “label” has been used in the Pure Food and Drugs Act, and for the meaning of
the word as used in said act see Druggists § 12. “Labels” as ordinarily not constituting
trade-marks in the absence of statutes to the contrary see Trade-Marks, Trade-Names, and
Unfair Competition § 54. For reference to other particular applications and specific uses
of the term see the General Index.