AFFIRROUR

2 definitions found across Law Mind sources

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AFFIRROURAuthored
The Law Mind • 503 words
Definition
An affirrour is an archaic Anglo-French legal term for an affeeror — an officer or person appointed to assess and fix the amount of an amercement (a monetary penalty) imposed by a court or manorial proceeding. The affirrour's function was to ensure that the penalty was proportionate to the offense, neither ruinously excessive nor trivially lenient. The term is a variant spelling only. It carries no distinct legal meaning separate from AFFEEROR, and researchers encountering it in historical records should treat it as the same office and function under an alternate orthographic form. ---
Common Confusion
AFFIRROUR, AFFEEROR, and AFFEERER are variant spellings of the same term, reflecting the phonetic instability of Law French transliteration into English legal writing. Burrill himself cross-references the entry directly to AFFEEROR without independent elaboration. Researchers should not treat these as distinct roles or distinct historical periods of usage — the variation is scribal and editorial, not substantive. ---
Why It Matters in Research
This entry exists primarily as a spelling trap. Researchers working in manorial court rolls, leet records, or early English court documents may encounter AFFIRROUR where modern finding aids index the same office under AFFEEROR or AFFEERER. Failure to cross-search variant spellings can produce an artificially incomplete picture of amercement practice in a given court or period. The deeper research value lies not in this variant but in the underlying concept: affeerment was a formal procedural mechanism for moderating financial penalties, with roots in Magna Carta's proportionality requirement. Documentary evidence of affirrours or affeerors in a court record is evidence that a structured amercement process — not arbitrary fine-setting — was in operation. Burrill's treatment is characteristic of mid-nineteenth-century legal lexicography: the entry exists to redirect rather than to define, and the substance is carried in the primary spelling. Researchers should follow the cross-reference to AFFEEROR for the operative definition and historical detail. ---
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary renders the entry as a bare cross-reference: "See Affeeror." No independent definition is supplied, and the term is treated as a pure orthographic variant rather than a term of art in its own right. This is editorially sound — the Law French source term admits multiple English renderings, and Burrill consolidates meaning at AFFEEROR. Historical sources that treat affeerment as a process (rather than cataloguing spelling variants) are more useful to the researcher than this entry. The Burrill entry's value is confirmatory: it establishes that AFFIRROUR was a recognized enough spelling to warrant inclusion, meaning researchers can expect to find it in primary sources without assuming scribal error. ---
Related Terms
AFFEEROR — primary spelling; the substantive entry AFFEERER — additional variant spelling AMERCEMENT — the penalty the affirrour was appointed to assess AMERCIAMENT — older form of the same concept MAGNA CARTA (c. 29) — constitutional source of proportionality in amercement LEET — manorial court jurisdiction in which affirrours commonly functioned MANORIAL COURT — institutional context for affeerment proceedings
AFFIRROURmain
Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867
See Affeeror. L. Fr. An affeeror. AFFIXUS, Adfixus. Lat. [from ad, to, and fixus, fixed.] In the civil law. Affixed; fixed or fastened to. Edium autem multa esse, quæ ædibus affixa non sunt, ignorari non oportet, utputa seras, claves, claustra; but it ought to be known that many things belong to houses, which are not actually affixed to them; such as locks, keys, bars. Dig. 19. 1. 17. pr. Castella plumbea, putea, opercula puteorum, epitonia fistulis adplumbata, aut quæ terra continentur, quamvis non sunt affixa, ædium esse constat; it is clear that leaden reservoirs, wells, covers of wells, wheels for raising water, soldered to pipes, or which are under ground, though they are not affixed, belong to houses. Id. 19. 1. 17. 8. Papinianus quoque, libro septimo Responsorum ait, sigilla et statuæ affixæ instrumento domus non continentur, sed domus portio sunt; quæ vero non sunt affixa, instrumento non continentur. Papinian, also, in his seventh book of Responses, says that images and statues affixed, are not included in the furniture of a house, but are a part of the house, but that those which are not affixed, are not included in furniture. Id. 33. 7. 12. 23. See Instrumentum. Statuæ affixæ basibus structilibus, aut tabula religatæ catenis, aut erga parietem adfixa, aut si similiter cohærent lychni, non sunt ædium; ornatus enim ædium causâ parantur, non quo ædes perficiantur; statues fastened upon pedestals of masonry, or pictures fastened with chains or fixed to the wall, or lamps suspended in a similar way, are no part of the house; for they are put up for the sake of ornament, and not for the completion of the building. Dig. 50. 16. 245. See Fixtures. AFFORCE, Aforce. [L. Fr. afforcer; L. Lat. afforciare.] In old English law. To apply, or exercise force; to use compulsory measures; to add to, or increase. Afforcing an assise was the production of a verdict, in case of a difference of opinion among the jurors, by adding others till twelve were found who were unanimous.* Bract. fol. 185 b. 292. Fleta, lib. 4, c. 9, § 2. 2 Reeves' Hist. Eng. Law, 267. Barringt. Obs. Stat. 20, 21. AFFORCER, Aforcer. L. Fr. Το strengthen; to add to, or increase; to compel, or enforce. Kelham. AFFORCIAMENTUM, Aforciamentum. L. Lat. [from afforciare, to make strong.] In old English law. A fortress or stronghold, or other fortification. Cowell. The calling of a court upon a solemn, or extraordinary occasion. Id. See Aforciamentum. Increase. Pro afforciamento districtionis; for the afforcement of the distress. Fleta, lib. 2, c. 65, § 9. AFFORCIARE, Affortiare. L. Lat. To make strong; to use or apply strength or force; to add to, or increase. Assisam afforciare; to afforce an assise. Fleta, lib. 4, c. 9, § 2. Affortietur assisa; the assise shall be afforced. Bract. fol. 185 b. See Afforce.

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