In admiralty law, this nautical term means the arrangement or trim of a vessel’s sails when she endeavors to make a progress in the nearest direction possible towards that point of the compass from which the wind blows. But a vessel may be considered as close-hauled, although she is not quite so near to the wind as she could posslbly lie. Chadwick v. Packet CoM 6 El. A BL 771
Source: Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
