tenant at willn.
Law.
A tenant who holds at the will or pleasure of the lessor. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal right > right of possession or ownership > tenure of property > one who has tenure > [noun] > leaseholder or tenant > at will
tenant at willc1500
ahoi1932
muhoi1932
c1500 in F. J. Furnivall Gild of St. Mary, Lichfield (1920) 14 It is ordenyd that..no tenaind at wyll shall make a tenand.
1598 in F. J. Furnivall Child-marriages, Divorces, & Ratifications Diocese Chester (1897) 164 Acceptans of the said Robert Fletcher to be his tenaunte at will of the said shop.
1628 E. Coke 1st Pt. Inst. Lawes Eng. 55 The lessee is called Tenant at will, because hee hath no certain nor sure estate, for the lessor may put him out at what time it pleaseth him.
1748 J. Hervey Medit. among Tombs in Medit. & Contempl. (ed. 4) I. 27 Let Us look upon Ourselves only as Tenants at Will; and hold Ourselves in perpetual Readiness, to depart at a Moment's Warning.
1878 W. S. Jevons Polit. Econ. x. 92 Tenants at will have no inducement to improve their farms.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online December 2019).
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