Definition
Latin (Law Latin). In old English law, a greyhound kept or used for hunting hares. The term appears in medieval legal and administrative records, typically in contexts involving the ownership, keeping, or granting of hunting dogs as part of feudal or manorial arrangements. Greyhounds were legally significant animals in medieval England, their ownership and use regulated by forest law and game law as instruments of the chase.
A related term appearing in the same sources is LEPORIUM — a place where hares are kept or a hare warren. The two terms often appear in proximity in monastic and manorial records, reflecting the organized management of game animals and hunting resources as legal property interests.
Why It Matters in Research
This term belongs to a narrow but substantive cluster of Law Latin terms governing animals, hunting rights, and feudal property in medieval English legal records. Researchers encountering LEPORARIUS in original sources — particularly in Fleta, monastic records (Monasticon Anglicanum), or manorial surveys — should understand that the term denotes not merely an animal but a legally recognized category of property with implications for ownership, transfer, and the rights associated with the chase.
Key navigational points:
The term connects directly to the broader body of English forest law and game law, where the right to keep greyhounds was itself a privilege. Under medieval forest and game statutes, possession of a greyhound by persons of insufficient social rank or land-holding was restricted or prohibited. A leporarius appearing in a grant or conveyance was therefore a meaningful legal object, not incidental description.
Researchers working in monastic cartularies or ecclesiastical records should note that Rapalje & Lawrence cites LEPORIUM alongside LEPORARIUS from Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. 2. These records document the keeping of hare warrens and hunting dogs as part of monastic estates, relevant to questions of ecclesiastical property rights and temporal privileges.
Burrill's citation to Fleta (lib. 2, c. 41, § 21) and Monasticon Anglicanum (vol. 2, p. 283) provides the primary textual anchors. Researchers should consult those sources directly for the operative legal context; the dictionary entries merely translate the term without elaborating on its legal consequences.
The term will not appear in modern legal sources. Its research value is confined entirely to medieval and early modern English legal history, particularly records predating the gradual codification of game law in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Historical Dictionary Support
All four source dictionaries agree on the core definition: a greyhound, specifically one associated with hare hunting. Black's (both editions) provides the shortest treatment, simply equating the term with "greyhound" and citing Cowell's Interpreter. Rapalje & Lawrence adds the companion term LEPORIUM with its own citation, usefully extending the semantic cluster. Burrill is the most informative, specifying "a grey-hound for the hare" (distinguishing it from other hunting dog types) and providing citations to Fleta and Monasticon Anglicanum rather than relying solely on Cowell.
The consistent reliance on Cowell's Interpreter across Black's and Rapalje & Lawrence is worth flagging: Cowell (1607) is a secondary glossary, not itself a primary legal source. Burrill's independent citations to Fleta and the Monasticon Anglicanum are therefore more useful for researchers who need to trace the term in operative legal texts. None of the historical dictionaries address the legal consequences of owning or transferring a leporarius, limiting their utility beyond bare translation.
Jurisdictional Note
LEPORARIUS is exclusively a term of old English law. It has no recognized counterpart or usage in American, Scottish, or continental legal traditions. Research use is limited to English medieval legal history.