frankpledge

[English frank, and pledge (q. v.).) Old English Law: 1. A pledge or security for the keeping the peace by or the good behavior of freemen. By the Saxon constitution these sureties were always at hand by means of the decennaries, wherein the whole neigh borhood of freemen were materially bound pledges for each other's good behavior. "The servants of the Crown were not, as now, bound in frankpledge for each other." -Macaulay : Hist . Eng ., ch. xi. 2. The system or custom by which the members of a decennary were mutually bound pledges for each other's good behavior. 3. A decennary or tithing. View of frankpledge : Old Eng . Law : A court leet. "Its original [sc. the Court Leet, or View of Frankpledge] was to view the frankpledges that is, the freemen within the liberty; who, we may remember, according to the institution of the Great Alfred, were all mutually pledges for the good behavior of each other."- Black stone: Comment., bk. iv., ch. 19. *frăńk-ten-ě-měnt, s . [Eng. frank , and tene ment (q. v.).] Old Law : The po e ion of the soil by a free man; an estate in freehold.