from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
ALTERATION. An act done upon an instrument in writing by a party entitled
under it, without the consent of the other party, by which its meaning or
language is changed; it imports some fraud or design on the part of him who
made it. This differs from spoliation, which is the mutilation of the
instrument by the act of a stranger.
2. When an alteration has a tendency to mislead, by so changing the
character of the instrument, it renders it void; but if the change has not
such tendency, it will not be considered an alteration. 1 Greenl. Ev. 566.
3. A spoliation, on the contrary, will not affect the legal character
of the instrument, so long as the original writing remains legible; and, if
it be a deed, any trace of the seal remains. 1 Greenl. Ev. Sec. 566. See
Spoliation.