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Bible Encyclopedias
Freehold (English Law)
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
or In the English law of real property, an estate in land, not being less than an estate for life. An estate for a term of years, no matter how long, was considered inferior in dignity to an estate for life, and unworthy of a freeman (see Estate).
"Some time before the reign of Henry II., but apparently not so early as Domesday, the expression liberum tenementum was introduced to designate land held by a freeman by a free tenure. Thus freehold tenure is the sum of the rights and duties which constitute the relation of a free tenant to his lord." 2 In this 1 Her maiden name was Mary Ludwig. "Molly Pitcher" was a nickname given to her by the soldiers in reference to her carrying water to soldiers overcome by heat in the battle of Monmouth. She married Hays in 1769; Hays died soon after the war, and later she married one George McCauley. She lived for more than forty years at Carlisle, Penn., where a monument was erected to her memory in 1876.
2 Digby's History of the Law of Real Property. sense freehold is distinguished from copyhold, which is a tenure having its origin in the relation of lord and villein (see Copyhold). Freehold is also distinguished from leasehold, which is an estate for a fixed number of years only. By analogy the interest of a person who holds an office for life is sometimes said to be a freehold interest. The term customary freeholds is applied to a kind of copyhold tenure in the north of England, viz. tenure by copy of court-roll, but not, as in other cases, expressed to be at the will of the lord.
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Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Freehold (English Law)'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/f/freehold-english-law.html. 1910.
