Breach
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
in law, any violation of a law, or the non-performance of a duty imposed by law. Breaches are of various kinds: 1. Breach of close, i. e., of what is inclosed in fact or in the eye of the law. The entry into another man's land. (Blackstone's "Commentaries," bk. iii., ch. xii.) 2. Breach of covenant. - The violation of a written agreement. (Blackstone's "Commentaries," bk. iii., ch. ix.) 3. Breach of duty. - Violation of the duty incumbent upon one rightly to discharge the functions imposed upon him by the office or trust which he holds. (Blackstone's "Commentaries," bk. iii., ch. ix.) 4. Breach of the peace. - Offenses against the public, involving personal violation of the peace, or incitement or provocation to others to do so. (Blackstone's "Commentaries," bk. iv., ch. xi.) 5. Breach of pound. -The act of breaking into a pound, or any similar place, to rescue one's cattle or other property there inclosed. (Blackstone's "Commentaries," bk. iii., ch. ix.) 6. Breach of prison-Escape of a prisoner from prison by breaking the building or in any other way. (Blackstone's "Commentaries," bk. iv., ch. x.) 7. Breach of promise. - (a) General.- Violation of one's pledged word, especially if the promise be written down. (b) Special. Breach of Special. Breach of promise of marriage. An action lies for it on the part of either man or woman, though, as a rule, only the latter is believed to be substantially injured or deserve damages. 8. Breach of trust. The violation of one's duty as trustee, or anything similar.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote this in 1921 it could still state that an action for breach of promise of marriage "lies... on the part of either man or woman" — the classic Victorian jilting suit. That cause of action has since been swept away: most American states passed "heart balm" statutes barring such suits from the 1930s onward, and England and Wales abolished the action outright in the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1970. Several other headings have become museum pieces too: "breach of close" is now simply trespass to land, "breach of covenant" is subsumed in breach of contract, and "breach of pound" has vanished with the cattle pound itself. Breach of the peace is the survivor, still a live charge in Scotland and still the basis of common-law arrest powers in England, though heavily rewritten by public-order legislation.
Written for this edition, 2026.