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Ham

Defined in 5 dictionaries — Cyclopedic (1922), Ballentine's (1916), Bouvier (1914), Kinney (1893), Stimson (1881)

The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary

Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922

Properly a house; 4 Inst. 294; a vill; a piece of ground shaped like the ham of the leg; Spelman. A piece of land; a home close, or little meadow; a narrow skirt, hem, or edge of meadow. A collection of houses; a village or town. Hence the names of many places in England ending with ham, as Nottingham, Buckingham, etc. Spelman.

In Saxon and old English law. A house or dwelling; a home. At ham; at home. LL. Ine, c. 5. Spelman supposes the radical meaning to be an enclosure or circuit, something that goes around. Hence the hem of a garment.

Ballentine's Law Dictionary

James A. Ballentine · 1916

A home; a house.

Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia

John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914

A place of dwelling; a homeclose; a little narrow meadow. Blount A house or little village. Cowell.

A Law Dictionary and Glossary

George C. Kinney · 1893

sax.

In Saxon and old English law. A house or dwelling; a home; a collection of houses; a village or town; a piece of land; a home close, or little meadow.

Glossary of Technical Terms, Phrases, and Maxims of the Common Law

Frederic Jesup Stimson · 1881

sax. A home; house. Hamesecken; v. Eaimsucken. Hamsocne: the privilege of a man's house, or the breach thereof.