‖ læn O.E. Law.
(leɪn)
[OE. lǽn: see loan.]
An estate held as a benefice.
| a 988 in Birch Cart. Sax. III. 329 Þa ᵹewat Eadric ær ælfheh cwideleas & ælfeh feng to his læne. a 1000 ælfric Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 115/36 Precarium, landeslæn. 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) I. App. K. 371 National property at the disposal of the king, to be distributed by him as laens (loans) or benefices. 1876 Digby Real Prop. i. i. §2. 17 The person having the ‘laen’ possessing only the usufructuary enjoyment to a greater or less extent. |
b. Comb.: læn-land, land held as ‘læn’; læn-right, beneficiary right.
| 985 in Kemble Codex Dipl. III. 217 Fif hida ðe Oswald..bocaþ Eadrice..swa swa he hit ær hæfde to lænlande. 1872 E. W. Robertson Hist. Ess. 117 Laenlands, or benefices. Ibid. 153 In property held by Læn-right possessions, privileges and obligations devolved upon the eldest born. 1874–5 Stubbs Const. Hist. I. v. 77 Either bookland or folkland could be,..under the name of lænland, held by free cultivators. |