attorn
/əˈtəːn
/verb [no object] Law
1Formally make or acknowledge a transfer of something.They were parties in the U.S. litigation and had attorned to U.S. jurisdiction....
- Mrs. Varga shall attorn to this jurisdiction in relation to all issues of custody and access.
- Having intervened the minister attorned to the jurisdiction of the court.
1.1 [with object] archaic Transfer (something) to someone else: a lord might attorn his vassals service to some other...
- Mr. Binder had attorned rents to the first mortgagee.
Phrases
attorn tenant
Origin
Middle English (in the senses 'turn, change, transform'): from Old French atorner 'appoint, assign', from a- (from Latin ad 'to, at') + torner 'to turn'. The spelling with o rather than u or ou, as might have been expected in English, is due to the late Anglo-Norman French form attorner, adopted in legal use.