good will

property in a very real sense, injury to which, like injury to any other species of property, is a proper subject for legislation; a valuable contributing aid to business—sometimes the most valuable contributing asset of the producer or distributor of commodities

The custom or patronage of any established trade or business; the benefit or advantage of having established a business and secured its patronage by the public. The advantage or benefit which is acquired by an establishment, beyond the mere value of the capital, stocks, funds, or property employed therein, in consequence of the general public patronage and encouragement which it receives from constant or habifual customers, on account of its local position, or common celebrity, or reputation for skill or affluence or punctuality, or from other accidental circumstances or necessities, or even from ancient partialities or prejudices. Story, Partn. § 99; Haverly v. Elliott, 39 Neb. 20L 57 N. W. 1010; Munsey v. Butterfield, 133 Mass. 494; Bell v. Ellis, 33 Cal. 625; People v. Roberts, 159 N. Y. 70, 53 N. E. 685, 45 L. R. A. 126; Churton v. Douglas, 5 Jur. N. S. 890; Menendez v. Holt, 128 U. & 514, 9 Sup. 0t 148, 32 In Ed. 526. The good-will of a business is the expectation of continued public patronage, but it does not include a right to use the name of any person from whom it was acquired. Civ. Code Cal. § 992; Civ. Code Dak. § 577. The term "good-will" does not mean simply the advantage of occupying particular premises which have been occupied by a manufacturer, etc. It means every advantage, every positive advantage, that has been acquired by a proprietor in carrying on his business, whether connected with the premises in which the business is conducted, or with the name under which it is managed, or with any other matter carrying with it the benefit of the business. Glen & Hall Mfg. Co. v. Hall, 6l N. Y. 226, 19 Am. Rep. 278.

Defined under Good in Black's Law Dictionary.