Guild

or GILD. A brotherhood or company governed by certain rules and orders made among themselves by king's license; a guild, the members pay an assessment, or tax (gild) towards defraying its charges, Termes de la Ley; Du Cange. A guild held generally more or less property in common, —often a hall, called a "guild hall," for the purposes of the association. The name of "guild" was not, however, confined to mercantile companies, but was applied also to religious, municipal, and other corporations. A friborg, that is, among the Saxons, ten families' mutual pledges for each other to the king. Spelman.

GILO. A brotherhood or company governed by certain rules and orders made among themselves by king’s license; a corporation, especially for purposes of commerce; so called because on entering the guild the members pay an assessment or tax (gild) towards defraying its charges. T, L.; I)u Cange. A guild held generally more or less property in common, — often a hall, called a guild-hall, for the purposes of the association. The name of guild was not, however confined to mercantile companies, but was applied also to religious, municipal, and other corporations. A mercantile meeting of a guild was called a guild merchant. A fridborg (q. v.), that is, among.the Saxons, mutual pledges of ten families for each other to the king. Spelman. See 3 Steph. Com. 31; Turner’s Hist. Ang. Sax. v. ill. p. 98. The earliest corporations in Scotland were not for trading but to perpetuate some public service; and they took their rise from Papal bulls, royal charters, etc., or frequently such charter was presumed; Ersk. Pr. 311. “Gilds came into unconscious existence through a process of evolution, and were then acknowledged by the law.’’ It is incorrect to say that there could be no gild without the king’s license. They were incorporated and after Incorporation supervised by the mayor, bailiffs, and common council of municipalities. Eaton, Report of Amer. B. A. (1902 ) 340. See Toulmin Smith, English Gilds. GUILD HALL ( Law Lat. piWAo Wtf, variously spelled ghildhalla, guihalla, guihaula; from Sax. gild, payment, company, and halla, hall). A place in which are exposed goods for sale. Charter of Count of Flanders; Hist Guinensl, 202, 203; Du Cange. The hall of a guild or corporation. Du Cange; Spelman: e. g., 0-ildhalla Teutonicorum, The chief hall of the city ot London, where the mayor and commonalty hold their meetings. The hall of the merchants of the Hanseatic League in London, otherwise called the “Stil- a yard.” Cowell.

A voluntary association of persons pursuing the same trade, art, profession or business, such as printers, goldsmiths, wool merchants, etc., united under a distinct organization of their own, analogous to that of a corporation, regulating the affairs of their trade or business by their own laws and rules, and aiming, by co-operation and organization, to protect and promote the interests of their common vocation. In medieval history these fraternities or guilds played an important part in the government of some states; as at Florence, in the thirteenth and following centuries, where they chose the council of government of the city. But with the growth of cities and the advance in the organization of municipal government, their importance and prestige has declined. The place of meeting of a guild or association of guilds, was called the "Guildhall." The word is said to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon "gild" or "geld," a tax or tribute, because each member of the society was required to pay a tax towards its support.

— Guild rents. Rents payable to the crown by any guild, or such as formerly belonged to religious guilds, and came to the crown at the general dissolution of the monasteries. Tom-inis.

A company or corporation. Gnildhall: the hall or place of meeting of a guild, or gild, or a municipal corporation.

A voluntary association of persons pursuing the same trade, art, profession, or business, such as printers, goldsmiths, wocl merecrants. ete., unitel under a distinct organization of their own, analegous to that of a corvoration, regulating the affairs of their trads or business by their own laws ani rules, and aiming, by co-operation and organization, te protect and promote the interests of their common vocation. In medieyal history these fraternities or guilds played an important part in the government of some states; as at Florence, in the thirteenth aad following centuries, where they chose the council of government of the city. But with the growth of cities and the advance in the organization of municipal government}, fheir importance and prestige has declined. The place of meeting of a guild, or association of guilds, was called the “Guildhall.” The word is said to be derived from the Anglo-Saxca “gild” or “geld,” a tax or tribute, because each member of the society was required to pay a tax Lowards its support.

a fraternity or company. Guildhall, the place of meeting of guilds.