free bench

alternative freebench · alternative free-bench

1. historicaluncountablelawA 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.First known use 15th c.

   Some widows in Brigstock also probably sold free bench lands, despite the customary restriction on such sales.

   1987, Judith M Bennett, Women in the Medieval English Countryside, page 165

   2 more examples

   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.

   1808, William Cruise, A Digest of the Laws of England Respecting Real Property, page 329

   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.

   1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 541