Legal Definition and Related Resources of Adopt

To take a child of another as one’s own, with all of the rights and duties there would have been if it had been one’s own originally. See Bailey v Mars, 87 A.2d388, 138 Conn. 593. To accept , ratify, appropriate ; to treat as one’s own. When a person affirms a voidable contract , or ratifies a contract made by his agent beyond his authority , he is sometimes said to adopt it.

verb

• accept
• ad sententiam
• admit
• adoptare
• affiliate
• annex
• appropriate
• arrogate
• assimilate
• assume
• attach oneself to
• avail oneself of
• borrow
• choose
• coopt
• conform to
• constituere
• denizenize
• elect
• embrace
• endenizen
• espouse
• exercise one’s option
• follow
• foster
• imitate
• make one’s own
• naturalize
• raise
• seize
• select
• select as one’s own
• take
• take on
• take possession of
• take up
• try
• usurp
• utilize
• vote to accept Associated Concepts: adopt a child
• adopt a law
• adopt a philosophy
• legitimation
• support

Browse or run a search for Adopt in the American Encyclopedia of Law, the Asian Encyclopedia of Law, the European Encyclopedia of Law, the UK Encyclopedia of Law or the Latin American and Spanish Encyclopedia of Law.

Adopt in Historical Law

You might be interested in the historical meaning of this term. Browse or search for Adopt in Historical Law in the Encyclopedia of Law.

Search for legal acronyms and/or abbreviations containing Adopt in the Legal Abbreviations and Acronyms Dictionary.

You might be also interested in these legal terms:

Mentioned in these terms

Affirm, Equitable Adoption, Fraud, Ratification.

What does Adopt mean in American Law?

The definition of Adopt in the law of the United States, as defined by the lexicographer Arthur Leff in his legal dictionary is:

To make one’s own that which was not before, as an idea, a position, an attitude, or even a person (see adoption of child). By extension it can also mean “to approve.”