Demesne Lands
A Dictionary of Law · Henry Campbell Black · 1891
A Dictionary of Law
In English law
Those lands of a manor not granted out in tenancy, but reserved by the lord for his own use and oecupation. Lands set apart and appropriated by the lord for his own private use, as for the supply of his table, and the maintenance of his family; the opposite of tenemental lands. Tenancy and demesne, however, were not in every sense the opposites of each other; lands held for years or at will being inciuded among demesne lands, as well a3 those in the lord’s aclual possession.
Spelman; 2 Bl. Comm. 90, DEMESNE LANDS OF THE