Definition of Chase

The liberty or franchise of hunting, one's self, and keeping protected against all other persons, beasts of the chase within a specified district, without regard to the ownership of the land. 2 BL Comm. 414-416. A privileged place for the preservation of deer and beasts of the forest, of a middle nature between a forest and a park. It Is commonly less than a forest, and not endowed with so many liberties, as officers, laws, courts; and yet it is of larger compass than a park, having more officers and game than a park. Every forest is a chase, but every chase is not a forest It differs from a park in that it is not inclosed, yet it must have certain metes and bounds, but it may be in other men's grounds, as well as in one's own. Manwood, 49.
—Common chase. In old English law. A place where all alike were entitled to hunt wild animals.