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Simple English definitions for legal terms
decenary
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A quick definition of decenary:
A decenary is a small group of ten families who lived together in a town or district in England a long time ago. Each family had a freeholder who was responsible for making sure everyone behaved well. If someone did something wrong, the freeholder had to bring them to the king. This helped prevent bad things from happening in the community. The idea of a decenary was started by King Alfred to make sure people were safe and happy.
A more thorough explanation:
Definition: A town or district consisting of ten freeholding families. A freeholder of the decenary (a decennarius) was bound by frankpledge to produce any wrongdoer living in the decenary.
Example: In medieval England, the civil division of the territory was into counties, of those counties into hundreds, of those hundreds into tithings or towns. A tithing or decenary was a group of ten freeholding families who lived together and were responsible for each other's good behavior. If any offense was committed in their district, they were bound to have the offender forthcoming.
Explanation: The example illustrates how a decenary was a small community of ten freeholding families who lived together and were responsible for each other's actions. They were bound by frankpledge to produce any wrongdoer living in the decenary. This system was put in place to prevent the rapines and disorders which formerly prevailed in the realm.