ˈtenant at ˈwill Law.
A tenant who holds at the will or pleasure of the lessor. Also fig.
| c 1500 Lichfield Gild Ord. (E.E.T.S.) 14 It is ordenyd that..no tenaind at wyll shall make a tenand. 1598 Child-Marriages 164 Acceptans of the said Robert Fletcher to be his tenaunte at will of the said shop. 1628 Coke On Litt. 55 The lessee is called Tenant at will, because hee hath no certain nor sure estate, for the lessor may put him out at what time it pleaseth him. 1746–7 Hervey Medit. (1818) 27 Let us look upon ourselves only as ‘tenants at will’; and hold ourselves in perpetual readiness to depart at a moment's warning. 1878 Jevons Prim. Pol. Econ. x. 92 Tenants at will have no inducement to improve their farms. |