tenant right (tenant rit)

1. The right of tenancy of a tenant on a manor, who holds not at the will of the lord but according to the custom of the manor. The customary tenants enjoy the ancient custom called tenant-right: namely, "To have their me uages and tenements to them during their lives, and after their deceases to the eldest i ues of their bodies lawfully begotten." H. Hall , Society in Elizabeth an Age, App. I. 2. The right, or claim of right, in various forms or degrees, on the part of agricultural tenants, particularly in Great Britain and Ireland, to continue the tenancy so long as they pay the rent and act properly, to have the rent not raised so high as to destroy their interest, to be allowed to sell their interest on leaving to a purchaser acceptable to the landlord, and to receive a compensation from the landlord if turned off. The claim last mentioned, recognized as extending to crops left in the ground, labor in preparing the soil for the next crop, produce left on the farm, and of late years the value of permanent improvements, is that more especially known as tenant-right. tenantry (ten'an-tri), n.; pl. tenantries (-triz). [ Tenants have taken new leases of their tenantrics . Bp. Ridley , in Dr. Ridley's Life, p. 656. ( Latham .) 2. The body of tenants; tenants collectively. Yes, Mr. Huxter, yes; a happy tenantry , its country's pride, will a emble in the baronial hall, where the beards will wag all. Thackeray , Pen dennis, lxxv.