from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
BEARING DATE. These words are frequently used in conveyancing and in
pleading; as, for example, a certain indenture bearing date the first day of
January, 1851, which signifies not that the indenture was made on that day,
but simply that such date has been put to it.
2. When in a declaration the plaintiff alleges that the defendant made
his promissory note on such a day, he will not be considered as having
alleged it bore date on that day, so as to cause a variance between the
declaration and the note produced bearing a different date. 2 Greenl. Ev.
Sec. 1610; 2 Dowl. & L. 759.