What is "law of error"

Error \Er"ror\, n. [OF. error, errur, F. erreur, L. error, fr. errare to err. See Err.]

1. A wandering; a roving or irregular course. [Obs.]

   The rest of his journey, his error by sea.
   --B. Jonson.

2. A wandering or deviation from the right course or standard; irregularity; mistake; inaccuracy; something made wrong or left wrong; as, an error in writing or in printing; a clerical error.

3. A departing or deviation from the truth; falsity; false notion; wrong opinion; mistake; misapprehension.

   His judgment was often in error, though his candor remained unimpaired.
   --Bancroft.

4. A moral offense; violation of duty; a sin or transgression; iniquity; fault.
   --Ps. xix. 12.

5. (Math.) The difference between the approximate result and the true result; -- used particularly in the rule of double position.

6. (Mensuration)

   1. The difference between an observed value and the true value of a quantity.

   2. The difference between the observed value of a quantity and that which is taken or computed to be the true value; -- sometimes called residual error.

7. (Law.) A mistake in the proceedings of a court of record in matters of law or of fact.

8. (Baseball) A fault of a player of the side in the field which results in failure to put out a player on the other side, or gives him an unearned base.

   Law of error, or Law of frequency of error (Mensuration), the law which expresses the relation between the magnitude of an error and the frequency with which that error will be committed in making a large number of careful measurements of a quantity.

   Probable error. (Mensuration) See under Probable.

   Writ of error (Law), an original writ, which lies after judgment in an action at law, in a court of record, to correct some alleged error in the proceedings, or in the judgment of the court.
   --Bouvier. Burrill.

   Syn: Mistake; fault; blunder; failure; fallacy; delusion; hallucination; sin. See Blunder.