Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Mesne
Mesne
,Adj.
[Cf.
Mean
intermediate.] (Law)
Middle; intervening;
as, a
. mesne
lord, that is, a lord who holds land of a superior, but grants a part of it to another person, in which case he is a tenant
to the superior, but lord
or superior to the second grantee, and hence is called the mesne
lordMesne process
, intermediate process; process intervening between the beginning and end of a suit, sometimes understood to be the whole process preceding the execution.
Blackstone.
Burrill.
– Mesne profits
, profits of premises during the time the owner has been wrongfully kept out of the possession of his estate. Burrill.
Webster 1828 Edition
Mesne
MESNE
,Adj.
Mesne process, that part of the proceedings in a suit which intervenes between the original process or writ and the final issue, and which issues, pending the suit, on some collateral matter; and sometimes it is understood to be the whole process preceding the execution.
Mesne profits, the profits of an estate which accrue to a tenant in possession, after the demise of the lessor.
Definition 2024
mesne
mesne
English
Adjective
mesne (not comparable)
- (law) intermediate
- a mesne lord
- 1767, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, Volume 2: "The Rights of Things", page 60
- Thus all the land in the kingdom is supposed to be holden, mediately or immediately, of the sovereign, who is styled the lord paramount, or above all. Such tenants as held under the crown immediately, when they granted out portions of their lands to inferior persons, became also lords with respect to those inferior persons, as they were still tenants with respect to the king; and, thus partaking of a middle nature, were called mesne, or middle, lords. So that if the king granted a manor to A., and he granted a portion of the land to B., now B. was said to hold of A., and A. of the king ... A. was both tenant and lord, or was a mesne lord : and B. was called tenant paravail, or the lowest tenant; being he who was supposed to make avail or profit of the land.
Derived terms
Terms derived from mesne
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Translations
intermediate — see intermediate
Noun
mesne (plural mesnes)
- (law) a mesne lord
- 1628, Sir Edward Coke, Sir Thomas Littleton, Francis Hargrave, Charles Butler, Sir Matthew Hale, Heneage Finch Earl of Nottingham, The First Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England, Or, A Commentary Upon Littleton, volume 1, 16 edition, L. Hansard & Sons,, published 1809, page 20:
- Lord, mesne, and tenant; the tenant holdeth by four pence, and the mesne by twelve pence.
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