Specification

A particular and detailed account of a thing. For example, in order to obtain a patent for an invention, it is necessary to file a specification or an instrument of writing, which must lay open and disclose to the public every part of the process by which the invention can be made useful. If the specification does not contain the whole truth relative to the discovery, or contains more than is requisite to produce the desired effect, and the concealment or addition was made for the purpose of deception, the patent would be void; for if the specification were insufficient on account of its want of clearness, exactitude, or good faith, it would be a fraud on society that the patentee should obtain a monopoly without giving up his invention.

2 Kent, Comm. 300; 1 Bell, Comm. pt. 2, c. 3, § 1, p. 112; Perpigna, Pat. 67; Renouard des Brevets d'Inv. 252.

See "Patent." In Military Law. The clear and particular description of the charges preferred against a person accused of a military offense.

Tytler, Mil. Law, 109.