tourn

tourn — noun

1. the twice-yearly circuit a county sheriff made through each hundred of medieval

1.名詞C2
釋義

the twice-yearly circuit a county sheriff made through each hundred of medieval and early modern England, holding court once after Easter and once after Michaelmas

例句

Sir Edmund completed his spring tourn through the hundred of Exeter just after Easter in 1287.

collocation: spring tourn

The sheriff's autumn tourn took him across seven different hundreds before the Michaelmas feast.

collocation: autumn tourn

同義詞
  • circuit

    a more general term for any travelling court route; tourn is specific to the English sheriff's system

  • eyre

    a similar travelling court but held by royal judges, not the sheriff

用法筆記

Distinguish from sense 2: the tourn here means the circuit journey itself, not the court session that took place along the way. Always involves movement across multiple hundreds.

常見錯誤

❌The tourn was a building in the town square.
✅The sheriff's tourn was a journey through the county, not a fixed building.
💡the tourn in sense 1 was a travelling circuit, not a permanent courthouse.

2. the local court session held by the sheriff at each stop on his circuit, dealing

2.名詞C2
釋義

the local court session held by the sheriff at each stop on his circuit, dealing with minor crimes, neighbour disputes, and everyday matters such as ale-selling offences and boundary disagreements

例句

The tourn heard a complaint from a widow whose neighbour had moved the boundary stone.

The tourn fined a miller twelve pence for selling flour above the assize price.

active construction with specific penalty: 'fined a miller twelve pence'

同義詞
  • court leet

    a similar local court held by the lord of the manor, not the sheriff

  • hundred court

    a broader term for any court serving a hundred district; the tourn was a specific type of hundred court

用法筆記

Distinguish from sense 1: the tourn here means the actual court session, not the journey. The court was not a permanent building — it sat wherever the sheriff stopped on his circuit.

常見錯誤

❌The sheriff travelled to the tourn.' (when meaning the court).
✅The sheriff held the tourn in the hundred of Exeter.
💡sense 2 is the court session that the sheriff conducted, not a place he travelled to.