heritor
(ˈhɛrɪtə(r))
Forms: 5 heriter, 5–6 heryter, 6 hery-, here-, heritour, 7–8 heretor, 6– heritor.
[ME., a. AF. heriter = OF. heritier, earlier eretier, eritier = Pr. (h)eretier, Sp. heredero:—late L. hērēditāri-um (from hērēditārius adj. hereditary), which took the place of hērēd-em heir. In 16th c. erroneously conformed to agent-nouns in -our, -or: cf. bachelor, and see -or.]
1. One who inherits; an heir or heiress. a. by law.
| 1475 Bk. Noblesse (1860) 4 King Edward the thrid, first heriter to the said Royaume of Fraunce. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xxiv, Hys cosyn germaine, the vicount of Chateau Bein, who is the heryter. Ibid. xliii. (R.), They sholde take his doughter..who was as then but fyue yeres of age, for herytoure of y⊇ royalme of Portyngale. c 1575 Balfour's Practicks (1754) 230 The heritouris and airis may be followit at the ȝeiris end. 1879 T. P. O'Connor Ld. Beaconsfield 74 The heritor of the Duke's title and land. |
b. by nature or acquisition.
| c 1554 Interl. Youth in Hazl. Dodsley II. 8 And thou shalt be an heritor of bliss. 1823 New Monthly Mag. VII. 327 The fierce heritors of his renown. 1877 Farrar Days of Youth xiii. 123 Our days are heritors of days gone by. |
2. Sc. Law. The proprietor of a heritable subject; ‘in connexion with parochial law, the term is confined to such proprietors of land or houses as are liable in payment of public burdens’ (Bell Dict. Law Scotl.).
heritor's court, the court of a subject superior held within the bounds of his own fee and heritage.
| 1597 Monipenny Chron. in Somers Tracts (1816) III. 395 An iland, which is not divided by any haven or port of the sea, but by the severall lordships of the heritours thereof. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 217 O that Christ were restored to be a freeholder and a landed heritor in Scotland. 1693 Apol. Clergy Scot. 17 Their Parliament lodged the power of Election in the Heretors and Elders of each Parish. 1697 Dallas Stiles 736 A Heretor of Salmond⁓fishing within the Territory of the Burgh. 1746–7 Act 20 Geo. II, c. 50 §21 No tenant..liable to perform any services whatsoever to his heretor or landlord. 1834 Brit. Husb. I. iv. 83 In Scotland no law exists by which repair [of a road] can be enforced; provided the heritors of a parish can show that their statute labour has been expended. |