▪ I. seisin, n.
(ˈsiːzɪn)
Forms: 3–4 sesin, 4–5 sesyn(e, sesine, 3–7 sesyng(e, 4–7 sesing, 5 sesun, seson, sesen, sesynn, 6 Sc. sessing, 7 sezin; 4–5 cesoun, 5 cesone; 4 saysyne, sayzine, 5 saisine, 6 saysing, saising, 7 Sc. saseing; 5 seasyng, 6 seasyne, 5–7 season, 6 seasen, 6–7 seasin, 6 ceassing, 7 seasing, seasin; 3–5 seysyn(e, 3–8 seisine, 3–5 seisyn(e, 5–6 seising, 6 seissin, seizine, 6–7 seizon, seison, 7 seizen, seisen, seysin, 3– seisin. Also Sc. sasine.
[a. F. saisine (from 13th c.) = Pr. sazina (whence It. sagina), f. F. saisir, Pr. sazir: see seize v.]
1. In early use, Possession: chiefly in phrases, to have, take seisin (in, of). Now only in Law, Possession as of freehold.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 6431 King knout of edmondes londes anon seisine nom. a 1300 Cursor M. 3360 He drogh hir ner and still spak ‘Yon es mi lauerd ysaac,..Of him now sal þou ha sesin’. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 6012 Yn alle here landes he toke sesyne, And was þan a ryche lordyng. c 1330 ― Chron. Wace (Rolls) 7621 Of prest was þer no benisoun,..In sesyn þe kyng had hure þat nyght. 1340 Ayenb. 144 And þervore zayþ oure Lhord þet þe kingdom of hevene is hare, naȝt wyþoute more be beheste, ac be saysyne zykere. 1375 Barbour Bruce vi. 496 He had him in his sesing. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxi. 222 Theise 3 Bretheren had Cesoun in alle the Lond. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1812 Wolde honest deth come, and me ouerterue, And of my graue me put in seisyne. c 1425 Cast. Persev. 767 in Macro Plays 100 In all þis worlde..here I ȝyfe þee with myn honde, syr, an opyn sesun. c 1425 Eng. Conq. Irel. (1896) 82 Reymond went ouere yn-to Walys to take seysyne yn hys fadyr landys. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 67/1 Cesone in londe, or oþyr go(o)d takynge, seisina. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. clxvii. [clxiii.] 463 To entre and take season of the castell. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. viii. §50 The Legate (hauing after fiue dayes seysin re⁓deliuered the Crowne, but not yet released the Censures, till conditions were performed). 1628 Coke On Litt. 31 Here this word (seised) extendeth it selfe as well to a seison in law, or a ciuill seison, as to a seison in deed, which is a naturall seison... For a woman shall be endowed of a seison in Law. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. lxii. (1739) 123 The Heir of a Free-man shall by descent be in such seisin as his Ancestor had at the time of his death, doing service, and paying relief; and shall have his Chattels. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. v. 66 Immediately upon the death of a vasal the superior was intitled to enter and take seisin or possession of the land. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 371 The law vested the seisin in law in the daughters upon the death of the father. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. lvi, The Grange had only devolved to him by will, at the end of a long entail,..and..he had gone abroad, without taking seisin. 1875 Digby Real Prop. i. (1876) 50 note, The proper meaning of the word ‘seisin’ is possession as of freehold; i.e. the possession which a freeholder has. |
b. The phrases to give seisin, take seisin are sometimes used with special reference to the symbolical acts called livery of seisin (see livery n. Sc.). Hence, in popular language, seisin has been occas. applied loosely to the object (e.g. a turf, a key, a staff) handed over in ‘livery of seisin’ as a token of possession.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 14 The stewarde..shall delyuer to hym y{supt} shall haue the lande the same yerde or another in the name of season. c 1600 Bacon Use Com. Law (1630) 52 And in Seisin thereof, hee deliuereth to him a Turfe, twig, or Ring of the doore. 1762 Hume Hist. Eng. I. iii. 136 A soldier..plucked some thatch, which, as if giving him seizine of the kingdom, he presented to his general [William]. 1863 Keble Bp. Wilson v. 168 Giving a kind of seizin by the delivery of a straw. |
| fig. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. ii. D 2 Gal. Thy lips, and loue, are mine. Mell. You nere tooke seizin on them yet. 1609 Bp. Andrewes Serm. iv. (1629) 30 He sends the Spirit of his Sonne, to give us seisin of this our Adoption. 1861 Pearson Early & Mid. Ages Eng. 243 The story that he [William the Conqueror]..stumbled on the shore and converted it into an omen of good luck, by professing to take seisin of the new territory. 1868 E. Edwards Ralegh I. xxi. 462 His horse fell with him, and forced him to take seisin of the soil in the roughest fashion. |
c. primer (also premier, † first) seisin: see primer a. 3 b. Now only Hist.
| 1459 Rolls of Parlt. V. 362/1 And the seid Edward..used to have and had..the furst seisine of all Londes..of every Tenaunt that held of them in chief. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII 210 Wardships, Liueries, Primier Seisines, and Alienations. 1875 Curtis Hist. Eng. 396 All wardships, forfeitures for marriage.., premier seisins..for alienation. |
2. Scots Law. The act of giving possession of feudal property by the delivery of symbols; infeftment. Also, the instrument by which the possession of feudal property is proved.
| 14.. Chalmerlan Ayr §4 (Sc. Acts I), Item at þai gif seising heratabill or of lang tym of ony baronagis [etc.]. 1498 Reg. Privy Seal Scot. I. 30/2 Quhil the lauchfull are or aeris thairof optene lachfull state and sesing of the sammyn. 1499 Ibid. 60/2 Confirmand a letter of sessing mad and gevin thairuppon to the said Wilȝame. 1521 Stirling Burgh Rec. (1887) I. 13 Sir James Akman, chep⁓lane,..produsit..ane attentic chartour and seissin of twa markis of obit silver to be upliftit..to the feft chaplanis yeirly. 1540 Sc. Acts Jas. V (1814) II. 375/1 The persoun..havand privait stait & saising of þe saidis landis. 1592 in Oppress. Orkney & Zetld. (1859) 101 But charter or seasing. 1604–5 Aberd. Acc. in Spalding Club Miscell. V. 78 Ane skyn of parchement to wreit the sesing of the said chartour of mortificatioun. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 2 Item, for ane precept of saising, conforme to the chartour, to the Chan⁓cellar for the fie of the seale, ane mark. 1693 Stair Instit. Law Scot. ii. iii. §16 (ed. 2) 199 These Charters..never become a real Right till they be compleated by Seasin, which imports the taking of Possession. Ibid. §19. 201 Albeit the most ordinar Warrant of Seasins be the Superiors Precept ingrossed or related to in the Seasin. 1696 Lond. Gaz. No. 3228/2 Act anent the Registration of Seasings. 1733 J. Innes Idea Juris Scotici 77 And the Seisin itself is nothing else but an Instrument (of a settled Style)..setting forth that upon such a Day..the Disponee was seized and invested in the Feu in Virtue of his Disposition. 1754 Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 266 Apprisings were, by the former practice, preferable, according to the dates of the seisins following upon them, where the debtor himself was infeft. |
b. Comb.: † seisin-ox, an ox formerly due as a perquisite to the sheriff when he gave infeftment to crown lands.
| 1567 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1814) III. 40/1 That na saising ox..be gevin or takin for na maner of saising tobe takin. a 1768 Erskine Inst. Law Scot. iii. viii. §79 (1773) 585 The sheriff who thus gives seisin, was by our old customs intitled to a seisin-ox as his fee. |
▪ II. † ˈseisin, v. Obs.
Forms: 5 seysne, ceson, cesun, seysonne, sesyn, seson, seisyne, 6 season, seasne, seizon.
[f. seisin n.; cf. med.L. sesināre; there may have been an AF. *seisiner: cf. OF. seisineor (agent-n.) and seisinement (n. of action).]
1. trans. To give seisin of (property).
| 13.. Guy Warw. (Caius) 8590, I will season into thyn hande Evyn halfen deale of my lande. |
2. To invest with the seisin of property; to put in possession; = seize v.1
| c 1450 Godstow Reg. 135 Þei preied..þat [they] wold..commaund to seysonne hem in hit. Ibid. 661 Bernarde of Seynt Walerye yaf the forsaid towne..and graunted hit to kyng henry and seisyned hym (by a silken cloth, wherof was a chesible I-made) with the lordship and the right of the Avowery of the same Abbey. |
3. To confiscate (property); to apprehend (a prisoner); = seize v. 5.
| c 1425 Found. St. Bartholomew's (E.E.T.S.) 57 Yf he wolle denay hit the kyngis officer hym as a theyf may holde and sesyne And for to be condempnyd betake hym to the Iugys. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 155 He nother his heires shold never..sesyn the lond of the same for the defaute of the same Robert. 1535 Coverdale 1 Esdras vi. 32 All his goodes shalbe seasoned to y⊇ kynge. |
4. To seize, take hold of; to take root.
| 1568 G. Skeyne Pest (Bannatyne Cl.) 15 Quhan all apperis to succede weill than the tirane [the Plague] sessinis rute and slayis sonest. |
5. intr. To seize upon.
| c 1540 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. iv. (Camden No. 36) 178 Cerdicius bie littell and litell seasoned on the weaste partes of the Ile. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 188/2 The kings officers came..to seizon upon his goods in the kings behalfe. 1587 Mirr. Mag., Wolsey xlv, One Wealsh, a Knight, came downe in good aray, And seasned sure,..On Wolsey wolfe, that spoiled many a lambe. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1548/1 Such, as vpon whom the infection was seizoned. |
Hence † ˈseisining vbl. n., chiefly = seisin n. Also † ˈseisiner Sc., lawful possessor (of lands).
| c 1450 Lovelich Grail lv. 214, I schal..Corowne hym kyng be My levenge, & Of Alle My londis to ȝeven him sesenynge. 1498 Reg. Privy Seal Scot. I. 35/1 The letter made to him be his said fader makand him sessonar and assignay to al his landis of M{supc}karistonn. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccxiv. 266 Thus the kyng of England had the possession and sesenynge of the duchie of Aquitayne. 1547 in J. H. Glover Kingsthorpiana (1883) 88 Such as have landes by will or testament, shall paye for their sesianynge vis. 1623 Cockeram ii, A Seazning of goods to the kings vse. Confiscation. |