Legal Definitions - assart

The term assart refers to a historical practice related to land use, carrying two distinct but related meanings:

• First, it describes the act of clearing trees, bushes, and undergrowth from a forested area to convert it into land suitable for cultivation, such as farming. Historically, performing such an act without proper authorization from the landowner or sovereign was often considered an offense.
• Second, it can refer to the specific piece of land itself that has been created through this process of clearing a forest for agricultural purposes.

Here are some examples to illustrate the concept of an assart:

• Imagine a group of medieval villagers in the 11th century, facing a shortage of fertile ground to grow crops for their expanding community. They decide to venture into the dense woods bordering their settlement and, over several seasons, laboriously cut down trees, remove stumps, and prepare a five-acre section of the forest for planting. This deliberate action of transforming the wooded area into arable land for farming is an example of an assart.

• A historical land survey from the 14th century might describe a particular field as "the new assart adjacent to Miller's Brook." This indicates that the field being referenced was not always open farmland but was originally part of a forest that was cleared and converted into agricultural land at some point in the past. Here, the term refers to the parcel of land itself that resulted from the clearing.

• Consider a powerful lord in the 13th century who discovers that one of his tenant farmers has, without seeking permission, cleared a substantial portion of the lord's private hunting forest to expand his personal farm. The lord, viewing this unauthorized deforestation and conversion of his valuable land as an infringement, might impose a significant penalty on the tenant for creating an assart without license. This highlights the historical legal implications associated with the act.