assythment

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From assyth +‎ -ment, from Old French aset, asez, originally meaning "enough". See assets.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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assythment (countable and uncountable, plural assythments)

  1. (Scots law, historical) Compensation or reparation for a criminal offence.
    • 1871, John Erskine, An Institute of the Law of Scotland[1], volume 2, page 1235:
      It may be observed that assythment is not due to the next of kin of a person slain where the offender hath by the exertion of public justice suffered the punishment due to his crime; but whether it can be demanded from the king's donatary where the criminal hath fled from justice and forfeited his movable estate upon a sentence of fugitation, may be doubted.
    • 1894 February, Scottish Notes and Queries[2], volume 7, page 140:
      I, Fergus and my Heirs and Assignies, against all deadly the foresaid Three Daughs, and the forenamed Land of Ardendraught, with their pertinents, liberties and assythments and other privileges as aforesaid.
    • 2003, Christine Peters, Women in Early Modern Britain, 1450-1640[3], page 25:
      Although there is no precise statistical analysis of assythments, bonds of manrent were only very rarely used in such circumstances.