free bench
See also: freebench
English
Alternative forms
- freebench, free-bench
Etymology
From free + bench, after Anglo-Norman franc banc (“frank bank”).
Noun
free bench (uncountable)
- (law, historical) A married woman's entitlement to the use of her husband's lands or property after he dies; or the land and property itself considered as such an entitlement. [from 15th c.]
- 1808, William Cruise, A Digest of the Laws of England Respecting Real Property, page 329:
- In most manors, free-bench consists of one half of the husband's copyhold; although, in others, it consists of a third or fourth part, and in some few, of the whole copyhold.
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 541:
- The widow enjoyed the right of freebench, that is, of succession to a portion of her late husband's holding, ranging from a quarter to the whole, according to local manorial custom.
- 1987, Judith M Bennett, Women in the Medieval English Countryside, page 165:
- Some widows in Brigstock also probably sold free bench lands, despite the customary restriction on such sales.
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Related terms
- widow-bench, widow's bench