swainmote
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
swain + mote. Compare Latin swanimotum.
Noun edit
swainmote (plural swainmotes)
- (UK, law, obsolete or historical) A court held before the verderers of the forest as judges, by the steward of the court, three times a year, the swains or freeholders of the forest composing the jury.
- 1766, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, page 71:
- The court of sweinmote is to be holden before the verderors, as judges, by the steward of the sweinmote, thrice in every year, the sweins or freeholders within the forest composing the jury.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “swainmote”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)