Acre

A quantity of land containing one hundred and sixty square rods of laud, in whatever shape. Cro. Eliz. 47H, ('.•;.">; 6 Co. 67; Co. Litt. 5 b. The word formerly signified an open field; whence acre-fight, a contest in an open field. Jacob, Diet. The measure seems to have been variable used, it was applicable especially to meadowlauds; Cowell. Originally a strip In the fields that was ploughed in the Maitland, Domesday and Beyond

A quantity of land containing 160 square rods of land, in whatever shape. Serg. Land Laws Pa. 185; Cro. Eliz. 476, 665; 6 Coke, 67; Poph. 55; Co. Litt. 58. Originally the word "acre" (acer, aker, or Sax. acer) was not used as a measure of land, or to signify any determinate quantity of land, but to denote any open ground, (latum quantumvis agrum,) wide champaign, or field; which is still the meaning of the German acker, derived probably from the same source, and is preserved in the names of some places in England, as Castle Acre, South Acre, etc. Burrill.

Formerly, in discussing the law of real estate, for brevity, " black acre " and ^' white acre" were used to distinguish parcels. See Estimate; More or Less.

\LsX.jugerum; L. Lat. cuyra, acer, from Sax. cecer, from Lat. ager, afield. Spelnian.'l -^ measure of land containing forty perches in length, and four in breadth; or according to that proportion, be the length more or less; making an area of one hundred and sixty perches. Ord. de admens, terrce, 35 ijdw. I. st. 1. Stat. 24 Hen. VIII. c. 4. Crompt. Jurisd. 222. Cowell. Declared by statute, in New- York, to be equal to a rectangle sixteen perches in length and ten in breadth, making the same area. 1 N. Y. Rev. Stat. [607,] 617, § 1. See Sergeants Land Laws, 185. See Perch. Originally the word acre, {acer, aker, or Sax. cecer,) was not used as a measure of land, or to signify any determinate quantity of land, but to denote any open ground, {latum quantumvis agrum,) wide champaign, or field; which is still the meaning of the German cu:ker, derived probably from the same source, and is preserved in the names of some places in England, as Castle Acre, South Acre, <fec. Spelman. See Acrefight. When the word came to be applied as a measure of ground, the quantity denoted by it was still various, until determined by the English statutes above referred to. Kennett^s Paroch. Ant. 534. Cowell. At the great Domesday inquisition, the common pasture in England seems to have been measured by hides, the arable land by carucates, or carves, and the meadow by acres. Id. ACREFIGHT or ACRE. [Sax. cecerfeoght, from cecer, a field, and feoghi^ fight.] A camp or field fight: a sort of duel, or judicial combat, anciently fought by single combatants, English and Scotch, between the frontiers of the two kingdoms with sword and lance. Called campfight and the combatants champions, (L. Lat campiones, from campus,) from the open field that was the stage of trial. Cowell. AC SL Lat. As if. Towns. PL 23. 21.

measures, is a quantity ACT OF GRACE, in the Scotch of land containing in length forty law, is the name by which the statute perches, and four in breadth, or one which provides for the aliment of is usually known. This statute provides that where a prisoner for debt declares upon oath, before the magistrate of the jurisdiction, that he has not wherewith to maintain himself, the magistrate may set himat liberty, if the creditor, in consequence of whose dilizence he was imprisoned, does not aliment him within ten days after intimation for that purpose, 1696, c. 323 Ersk. Pr. L. Scot. 4, 3,14. This is s»mewhat similar to a provision in the insolvent act of Pennsylvania.