Definition
Gisement is an archaic Law French term denoting the taking in of cattle or livestock to graze on another's land in exchange for a set price. The term carries a dual meaning in the historical sources: it refers both to the arrangement itself — the pasturing of another's animals on one's land for compensation — and to the money received in payment for that grazing service. Gisement is, in substance, synonymous with agistment, the more commonly encountered English form of the same concept.
Common Confusion
Gisement and agistment are the same legal concept. Gisement is the Law French form; agistment is the anglicized term that appears in most English and American legal sources from the eighteenth century onward. Researchers encountering gisement in early legal texts should treat it as identical to agistment and search under that heading for relevant case law, treatise discussion, and statutory treatment. The two terms should not be read as describing distinct arrangements.
Why It Matters in Research
Gisement is almost exclusively a term of historical and antiquarian legal interest. It appears in early common law sources, Year Books, and Law French materials where agistment had not yet displaced it. Researchers working in medieval or early modern English land law — particularly sources predating widespread anglicization of Law French legal vocabulary — may encounter gisement and need to recognize it as the precursor form of agistment rather than a separate doctrine.
The practical research trap is terminological: a search for gisement in modern legal databases will return little or nothing of doctrinal value. The operative research term is agistment, under which all substantive law on the pasturing arrangement — including the agistor's duties, the agistor's lien on the animals, and liability for loss — is indexed. Any research need that begins with gisement should pivot immediately to agistment.
Researchers should also be alert to the dual meaning preserved in the historical sources. Gisement (and agistment) described both the legal relationship and the consideration flowing from it. In early texts this compressed usage can create ambiguity about whether a passage is describing the arrangement or the payment; context typically resolves this, but it is worth flagging when reading older materials closely.
Historical Dictionary Support
Both editions of Black's Law Dictionary (1st and 2nd) define gisement identically, flagging it as Law French for agistment and preserving the dual meaning — the grazing arrangement and the money received for it. Neither edition develops the term independently; both treat it as derivative of agistment and offer no separate doctrinal elaboration. This is appropriate given the term's function as a linguistic antecedent rather than an independent legal category.
The historical sources are consistent and agree on all points. What they do not supply — and what no dictionary entry on gisement alone can supply — is the substantive law of the underlying relationship. For that, researchers must look to agistment entries and the common law of bailment with which agistment closely interacts.
Jurisdictional Note
Gisement as a term has no modern jurisdictional footprint in American or Commonwealth law. The underlying relationship it describes — compensated pasturing of another's livestock — is governed in contemporary practice under agistment, which survives with varying degrees of statutory treatment across agricultural jurisdictions, particularly in western United States states and Australia.