amercement – מילון אנגלי-אנגלי
amercement
n.
fine; punishment, penalty
Amercement
An
amercement is a financial penalty in
English law, common during the
Middle Ages, imposed either by the court or by peers. The noun "amercement" lately derives from the verb
to amerce, thus: the King amerces his subject, who offended some law. The term is of
Anglo-Norman origin, (
Law French, from French, from Latin), and literally means "being at the mercy of":
a-merce-ment (English
mercy is cognate).
amercement
Noun
1. money extracted as a penalty
(synonym) fine, mulct
(hypernym) penalty
(hyponym) library fine
(derivation) amerce
Amercement
(n.)
The infliction of a penalty at the discretion of the court; also, a mulct or penalty thus imposed. It differs from a fine,in that the latter is, or was originally, a fixed and certain sum prescribed by statue for an offense; but an amercement is arbitrary. Hence, the act or practice of affeering. [See Affeer.]
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), edited by Noah Porter.
About
Amerciament, Amercement
AMERCIAMENT, AMERCEMENT - English Law. A pecuniary punishment arbitrarily imposed by some lord or count, in distinction from a fine which is expressed according to the statute. Amerciament royal, when the amerciament is made by the sheriff, or any other officer of the king.
Practice. A pecuniary penalty imposed upon a person who is in misericordia; as, for example, when the defendant se retaxit, or recessit in contemptum curioe. By the common law, none can be amerced in his absence, except for his default.
Formerly, if the sheriff failed in obeying the writs, rules, or orders of the court, he might be amerced; that is, a penalty might be imposed upon bim; but this practice has been superseded by attachment. In New Jersey and Ohio, the sheriff may, by statutory provision, be amerced for making a return contrary to the provision of the statute.
This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.
