DEMESNE

demesne (di-maynor  di-meen), n.[French] 1.  At common law, land  held in  one’s  own right,

and not through a superior; esp., land attached to a manor and reserved for the court’s own use. 2.

Domain; realm. — Also spelled demain.

ancient  demesne.Hist.  A  manor  that  was  held  by  the  Crown  at  the  time  of  William  the

Conqueror and was recorded in the Domesday Book.

demesne as of fee.Hist. Complete ownership of something.

“But there is this distinction between the two species of hereditaments: that,  of a corporeal

inheritance a  man shall be said to be seised in his demesne, as  of  fee;  of an incorporeal one, he

shall only be said to be seised as of fee, and not in his demesne. For, as incorporeal hereditaments

are in their nature collateral to, and issue out of, lands and houses, their owner hath no property,

dominicum, or demesne, in the thing itself, but hath only something derived out of it; resembling

the servitutes, or services, of the civil law.” 2 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of

England 106 (1766). [Blacks Law 8th]