free bench

• freebench, free-bench

From free + bench, after Anglo-Norman franc banc (“frank bank”).

free bench (uncountable)

1. (law, historical) A married woman's entitlement to the use of her husband's lands or property after he dies; or the land and property itself considered as such an entitlement. [from 15th c.]
   • 1808, William Cruise, A Digest of the Laws of England Respecting Real Property, page 329:

     In most manors, free-bench consists of one half of the husband's copyhold; although, in others, it consists of a third or fourth part, and in some few, of the whole copyhold.

   • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 541:

     The widow enjoyed the right of freebench, that is, of succession to a portion of her late husband's holding, ranging from a quarter to the whole, according to local manorial custom.

   • 1987, Judith M Bennett, Women in the Medieval English Countryside, page 165:

     Some widows in Brigstock also probably sold free bench lands, despite the customary restriction on such sales.

• widow-bench, widow's bench