ligeance

[ lahy-juhns, lee- ]

noun

1. Chiefly Law. the territory subject to a sovereign or liege lord.
2. Archaic. allegiance.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ligeance¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French; liege, -ance

Example Sentences

The proposed buyer is Gardner Aerospace, a bigger supplier based in Derby — but sold last year to Shaanxi Ligeance Mineral Resources, a Chinese industrial conglomerate.

From New York Times

Natural-born subjects are such as are born within the dominions of the crown of England, that is, within the ligeance, or as it is generally called, the allegiance of the king; and aliens, such as are born out of it.

From Project Gutenberg

Their rights are also distinguishable by the same criterions of time and locality; natural-born subjects having a great variety of rights, which they acquire by being born within the king's ligeance, and can never forfeit by any distance of place or time, but only by their own misbehaviour: the explanation of which rights is the principal subject of the two first books of these commentaries.

From Project Gutenberg