Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Legal possession of land, as a freehold estate.
  • noun The act or an instance of taking legal possession of land.
  • noun Property thus possessed.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See seizin.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun See seizin.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun law, historical A feudal term for an entitlement to a freehold estate with a right to immediate possession; still used in technical discussions of real property law today.
  • noun obsolete The act of taking possession.
  • noun obsolete The thing possessed; property.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English seisine, from Old French saisine, from seisir, to seize; see seize.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English seysen, from Old French seisin, from the verb seisir, from Vulgar Latin *saciō, from the same Proto-Indo-European root as Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (satjan) and Old English settan. More at seize.

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Examples

  • The disabilities under which a feudal owner very frequently lay gave rise to the practice of conveying land by other methods than that of feoffment with livery of seisin, that is, a handing over of the feudal possession.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 3 "Banks" to "Bassoon" Various

  • Little groups were trickling in all the time to swear fealty to their new king, and they were using an ancient ritual they referred to as "seisin," a ritual probably as old as the earth-taking ritual.

    Storm Breaking Lackey, Mercedes 1996

  • Little groups were trickling in all the time to swear fealty to their new king, and they were using an ancient ritual they referred to as "seisin," a ritual probably as old as the earth-taking ritual.

    Storm Breaking Lackey, Mercedes 1996

  • Well, you have taken seisin of my life between you.

    A River So Long 2010

  • Sometimes livery of seisin, an old English form of symbolic delivery, was used, particularly in the 17th century.

    A History of American Law Lawrence M. Friedman 1985

  • Middleton and Sarah Dehon of Charlestown had executed “deeds of feoffment, with livery of seisin,” in 1836, instead of using more streamlined forms.15 In the rest of the country, the enormous demand meant that land documents had to become simple and standard.

    A History of American Law Lawrence M. Friedman 1985

  • Sometimes livery of seisin, an old English form of symbolic delivery, was used, particularly in the 17th century.

    A History of American Law Lawrence M. Friedman 1985

  • Sometimes livery of seisin, an old English form of symbolic delivery, was used, particularly in the 17th century.

    A History of American Law Lawrence M. Friedman 1985

  • Middleton and Sarah Dehon of Charlestown had executed “deeds of feoffment, with livery of seisin,” in 1836, instead of using more streamlined forms.15 In the rest of the country, the enormous demand meant that land documents had to become simple and standard.

    A History of American Law Lawrence M. Friedman 1985

  • Middleton and Sarah Dehon of Charlestown had executed “deeds of feoffment, with livery of seisin,” in 1836, instead of using more streamlined forms.15 In the rest of the country, the enormous demand meant that land documents had to become simple and standard.

    A History of American Law Lawrence M. Friedman 1985

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