Gleaning

The act of gathering such grain in a field where it grew as may have been left by the reapers after the sheaves were gathered. There is a custom in England, it is said, by which the poor are allowed to enter and glean upon another's land after harvest, without being guilty of a trespass.

3 Bl. Comm. 212.

But it has been decided that the community are not entitled to claim this privilege as a right.

1 H. Bl. 51.

In the United States, it is believed, no such right exists. It seems to have existed in some parts of France. Merlin, Repert. "Glanage." As to whether gleaning would or would not amount to larceny, see Woodf. Landl. & Ten. 242; 2 Russ. Crimes, 99. The Jewish law may be found in the 19th chapter of Leviticus, verses 9 and 10.

See Ruth ii.

2, 3; Isaiah xvii. 6.