Definition
Herbagium auterius is a Latin term from English ecclesiastical and agrarian law referring to the first cutting of hay or grass from a given piece of land in a season. It is distinguished from the aftermath — the second or later growth that follows the initial harvest. The term arose primarily in the context of tithes and customary rights, where the right to, or obligation arising from, the first cutting was treated separately from rights in the regrowth.
Why It Matters in Research
This term appears almost exclusively in historical English ecclesiastical records, tithe disputes, and parish antiquities. Researchers working in pre-nineteenth-century English agrarian law or church property records will encounter it most often in contexts concerning the allocation of tithe obligations: whether a tithe-owner's entitlement attached to the first cutting, the aftermath, or both. The distinction between herbagium auterius and the aftermath was practically significant because the two cuttings could belong to different parties under customary arrangements, or be subject to different tithe rates.
The term belongs to a cluster of Latin agrarian terms that appear with some frequency in ecclesiastical court records, glebe terriers, and parish surveys but are rarely defined in common-law treatises. Researchers using historical parish records or tithe commutation documents should be alert to this vocabulary and its distinctions. Because the term is narrowly technical and tied to a specific agricultural practice, it does not migrate into American legal materials in any meaningful way — it is essentially a term of English ecclesiastical and agrarian practice.
The sole modern pathway to understanding the term's practical application is through records of the sort cited by Bouvier: parish antiquities and ecclesiastical surveys. Researchers who encounter the term in archival sources should treat it as a signal that they are in tithe or customary-right territory, and may need to consult ecclesiastical court records or tithe award documentation to understand the specific rights at issue.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's Law Dictionary provides the only entry among the standard historical American legal dictionaries. Bouvier defines the term concisely as "the first cutting of hay or grass, as distinguished from the aftermath," citing Parochial Antiquities (Kennett's Parochial Antiquities, 1695) at page 459. No entry appears in Black's Law Dictionary in its early editions under this heading, and the term does not appear in Tomlin's or Burrill's law dictionaries in a distinct entry. The absence from most American legal dictionaries reflects the term's practical irrelevance outside English ecclesiastical law. Bouvier's inclusion of it is consistent with his broader effort to catalog Latin terms of art encountered in English sources that American lawyers might meet in historical research or in the context of inherited land grants with English antecedents. The citation to Parochial Antiquities is characteristic — this class of term lived in antiquarian and ecclesiastical scholarship, not in common-law case reporters.
Jurisdictional Note
Herbagium auterius is a term of English ecclesiastical and customary agrarian law with no recognized application in American jurisdictions. It may appear in American legal research only in the context of colonial land grants, tithe-related disputes inherited from English ecclesiastical practice, or historical scholarship. English researchers will find it most relevant in records predating the Tithe Commutation Act 1836.