Legal Definitions - fine for endowment

Definition: A fee that a widow of a tenant had to pay to the tenant's lord in order to be able to inherit her husband's land. If the fee was not paid, the widow would not be able to inherit the land.

Example: In medieval England, if a tenant died, his widow could inherit his land only if she paid a fine for endowment to the lord of the manor. For example, if the tenant's land was worth 10 pounds a year, the fine might be 20 pounds, or two years' worth of rent. If the widow could not afford to pay the fine, she would lose her right to inherit the land.

Explanation: The example illustrates how the fine for endowment worked in practice. It shows that the amount of the fine was often a multiple of the annual rent of the land, and that it had to be paid in order for the widow to be able to inherit the land. The fine was a way for the lord of the manor to extract money from the widow, and to ensure that the land remained in the hands of his tenants rather than passing to outsiders.