disseise

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 20, 2011 is: disseise • \dih-SEEZ\  • verb : to deprive especially wrongfully of seisin : to put out of possession or occupancy : dispossess Examples: "The complainant declared that he or she had been disseised -- usually physically and sometimes even violently deprived -- of land unjustly and without judgment of a court." -- From a footnote by Janet Loengard in the 2011 book The Ties That Bind: Essays in Medieval British History in Honor of Barbara Hanawalt "Noting that Joann did not even become aware of the property until after her husband's death - nine years after the transfer of interests - the panel concluded she 'was not therefore disseised of her one-third interest until 1997….'" -- From an article by Melissa P. Stewart, Esq., in Michigan Lawyers Weekly, October 15, 2007 Did you know? "Disseise," "seisin" ("the possession of land or chattels"), and "seize" are all 13th-century words derived from the Anglo-French word "seisir," meaning "to put in possession of." That’s the original meaning of English "seize" as well. ("Seize" can also be spelled "seise" in that sense.) The Magna Carta (the great charter of liberties, originally written in Medieval Latin and signed in 1215) is perhaps the most frequently quoted use of the word "disseise": "No free man shall be … disseised … except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.