estovers

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estovers

a right allowed by law to tenants of land to cut timber for fuel and repairs.

Collins Dictionary of Law © W.J. Stewart, 2006

ESTOVERS, estates. The right of taking necessary wood for the use or furniture of a house or farm, from off another's estate. The word bote is used synonymously with the word estovers. 2 Bl. Com. 35; Dane's Ab. Index, h.t.; Woodf. L. & T. 232; 10 Wend. 639; 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1652 57.

A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856.

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References in periodicals archive ?

They were granted "estovers" - dead wood - for fuel, to repair their homes, fix tools or make charcoal.

WALES: FREE TO FORAGE; FIREWOOD U-TURN ... but this winter may be your last chance

Even the taking of dead wood (the right of estovers) is detrimental to the woodland environment as decaying timber has high biodiversity value and is part of the woodland cycle.

Letter: your view - Forestry Commission

The right to collect fuel wood - known at the time of the Magna Carta as "estovers" - was contained in the document sealed by King John in June 1215.

Challenge over loss of Magna Carta right to logging; 'Too dangerous' under Health and Safety rules

Later in life, in Boston when I crossed paths with Governor Michael Dukakis on his morning walk, he turned a neighbourly blind eye to my gathering windfalls--'estovers' as Magna Carta calls them--for my fireplace.

Common cause: Peter Linebaugh finds inspiration in the worldwide and timeless assertion of common rights, expressed in Magna Carta

(93) Specifically, Sprankling claims that the rejection of English common law's strict rules preventing the conversion of forest land to farm land and limiting a life tenant's timber cutting to personal consumption uses (estovers), which in England served rational conservation purposes given its wood-dependent economy and wood scarcity, served the American instrumentalist goal of converting wilderness into agricultural land.