Purport
A Dictionary of Law · William C. Anderson · 1889
A Dictionary of Law
The substance or general import of language. The " purport " of a communication is its substance, as stated in any other than the identical words in which it was originally expressed. In libel, the exact words are required to be set out. The substance of an instrument as it appears on the face of it to every eye that reads it. " Tenor " (g. v.) imports an exact copy.*