a·merce

(ə-mûrs′)

tr.v. a·merced, a·merc·ing, a·merc·es Law

To punish by fine or other penalty.

[Middle English amercen, from Anglo-Norman amercier, from à merci, at the mercy of : à, to (from Latin ad; see ad-) + merci, mercy (from Latin mercēs, wages).]

a·merce′a·ble adj.

a·merce′ment n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

amercement, amerciament

1. punishment or penalty applied at the discretion of a court or other authority, as contrasted with a penalty predetermined by statute.
2. the imposing of such a penalty. — amercer, n.

amercement

noun

A sum of money levied as punishment for an offense:

fine, mulct, penalty.

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

Neglect of these duties entailed an amercement [(fine)] of the individual, the township or the hundred.

Scrutinizing "strict scrutiny" judicial review for the right to bear arms

vesicarius was performed as described in literature.13 Sandpaper with amercement particles were used to irritate the inner surface of a rabbit's ear in a clockwise direction for 10 minutes.

Dermatological evaluation of counter irritant effect of methanol leaf extract of Rumexvesicarius Linn. in rabbits

bonus") or amercement (commonly referred to as the "marriage

The collision of student loan debt and joint marital taxation

24-25, 1782) (negotiating with Senate over that body's amendment of amercement bill); S.C.

The founders' origination clause and implications for the Affordable Care Act

Lastly, amercement. On a state-by-state level, does the punishment fit the crime?

Who "lost" opioids?

4, for example, the amercement of Thomas Hough for Ieaving muckheaps in the common streets and in le Watteringplace in the market stead; p.

The politics of diffuse authority in an early modern small town

Two years before that the Inner Temple had been more restrictive still, recording in its parliament that "first, it is ordered that the cooks or any other officer in the kitchen shall not have any woman or woman-kind to come or resort into the kitchen or kitchen door for any cause, upon pain that the officer to whom such person shall resort to lose his office or place, or otherwise be punished by amercement." (1) Seven years later this idea was made still clearer, "It is ordered that there shall be in the kitchen but one undercook and three turn broaches [turnspits], and all women to be avoided." A recent edition of the Oxford English Dictionary News (September 2005) quoted what seems to have been a stock masculinist joke, as prevalent now as it was in 1762 when the statement was made.

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In those actions of ravishment appearing in common law courts as a trespass, a conviction would result in the accused paying an amercement, usually the equivalent of the goods allegedly stolen from the husband in addition to damages.

Runaway wives: husband desertion in medieval England

The punishment for impermissibly intruding upon the forest was amercement (fine) at the next Eyre in addition to an annual fine based on the crops sown: For every acre illegally planted, the fine was a shilling for winter corn (either wheat or rye) and sixpence for spring corn (generally oats).

Three cases/four tales: commons, capture, the public trust, and property in land

(15) Originally, English law punished criminal activity not with imprisonment but with financial fines called amercements. (16) The Magna Carta required that the amercement imposed on a criminal not to exceed the severity of his crime.

The Supreme Court's excessive deference to legislative bodies under Eighth Amendment sentencing review

The large number of pleas involving relatively few villagers almost certainly reflects economic and social wherewithal; litigation was not something to be entered into lightly since an inquest cost money and a failure to produce law could result in an expensive amercement.(43) Thus, that Nicholas and Robert were, relatively speaking, so often involved in litigation may be explained by their social and economic status.

Peasants and the manor court: gossip and litigation in a Suffolk village at the close of the thirteenth century