Legal Definitions - evenings

In historical legal contexts, the term evenings referred to a traditional practice within medieval landholding systems. It described a gratuity or supplementary payment given by a landowner (often called a "lord") to a customary tenant. This payment was typically delivered in the evening or at night, after the tenant had completed a day's labor harvesting crops—such as grass, grain, or other produce—from the lord's fields. The "evenings" gratuity itself usually consisted of a portion of the very crop the tenant had helped to gather, serving as a form of additional compensation or a bonus for their work.

• Imagine a tenant farmer named Thomas, who, as part of his feudal obligations, spends several long days in late summer helping his lord harvest vast fields of wheat. After the sun sets on the final day of the harvest, the lord's steward approaches Thomas and, as a gesture of appreciation for his diligent labor, grants him a small sack of the freshly threshed wheat to take home for his family. This gift of wheat, given at the end of the workday, would be considered an evenings.

• Consider Elara, a customary tenant whose duties included assisting with the annual haymaking for the lord's livestock. Throughout the day, Elara and others would scythe, dry, and gather large quantities of hay. As dusk settled and the day's work concluded, the lord's bailiff permitted Elara to bundle a small amount of the harvested hay to bring back to her own cottage, either for her small goat or for bedding. This portion of hay, received in the evening, exemplifies an evenings.

• During the autumn, a tenant named John was tasked with helping to gather apples from the lord's extensive orchard. He spent the day climbing trees and filling baskets with fruit. As the light faded and the laborers prepared to return to their homes, the lord himself personally handed John a small basket filled with some of the choicest apples from the day's pickings, acknowledging his hard work. This evening gift of apples represents an evenings, a bonus from the harvest he helped secure.