WINTER HEYNING - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

WINTER HEYNINGAuthored

The Law Mind • 747 words

Definition

A fixed seasonal period running from November 11 to April 23, during which the right of common — specifically the right to graze animals in certain royal forests — was suspended. During winter heyning, commoners who otherwise held grazing rights were excluded from the forest so that the land could rest and recover during the cold months. The restriction protected the forest's vegetation and preserved resources for deer and other wildlife under the Crown's jurisdiction.

The term is historical English forest law. It has no modern legal application in either English or American law.

Common Language

No Wiktionary or Webster's 1913 definition applies. The component words are ordinary English — "winter" (the cold season) and "heyning" (an archaic term for enclosing or protecting land, related to hedging or fencing) — but the compound term as a legal designation is pure technical vocabulary of the old English common law of forests. No meaningful gap between common and legal usage exists because the term has no current common usage at all.

Why It Matters in Research

Winter heyning is a narrow but real artifact of English forest law, appearing in sources dealing with rights of common and the management of royal forests under the Stuart-era statutes. Researchers will encounter it primarily when tracing the history of commons law, rights of pasture, or the development of English property doctrine before the enclosure movement consolidated and extinguished most such rights.

The key navigational point: do not confuse this term with modern terms that share a surface resemblance. "Winter" here is a seasonal descriptor, not a proper name — it has nothing to do with the U.S. Supreme Court's preliminary injunction standard from Winter v. NRDC (2008) or the Winters Doctrine governing federal reserved water rights. Sources that cite "winter heyning" are exclusively historical English sources, not American legal materials.

The statutory basis — 23 Car. II, c. 3 — is the statute of Charles II (1671), which reorganized and codified aspects of English game and forest law. Researchers working with pre-19th century English forest law, manorial records, or rights of common disputes will need familiarity with this statutory context to interpret period documents correctly.

The precise dates (November 11 — St. Martin's Day — to April 23 — St. George's Day) reflect the liturgical calendar as a practical framework for legal periods, a common feature of medieval and early modern English law. Recognizing these date anchors helps researchers place documents within the agricultural and legal year.

Historical Dictionary Support

Black's Law Dictionary (1st and 2nd editions) and Rapalje & Lawrence are in complete agreement on the core definition: the season between November 11 and April 23, excepted from the liberty of commoning in certain forests, with all three citing 23 Car. II, c. 3. There is no meaningful divergence among the sources. The consistency reflects the term's narrow, fixed meaning in a closed body of statutory law.

None of the historical dictionaries elaborate on enforcement mechanisms, the specific forests affected, or the penalties for commoning during the prohibited period. Researchers needing that operational detail must look beyond the dictionary shelf to treatises on English forest law — particularly Manwood's Treatise of the Forest Laws (various editions from the 16th through 18th centuries) — and to the statutory text itself.

Rapalje & Lawrence's entry is immediately followed by a reference to "Winter Sperm Oil" and the Wisbuy Ordinances, confirming that these alphabetically adjacent entries are unrelated. The layout of historical dictionaries can mislead researchers into assuming proximity implies connection.

Jurisdictional Note

Winter heyning is a creature of English law only. The concept never migrated to American common law in any recognized form. American forest and grazing law developed along entirely different lines, primarily through federal public lands legislation rather than the English common law of forests and rights of common.

Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

Note: The two Law Mind Encyclopedia entries flagged as potentially matching — civpro_115 (Preliminary Injunctions — the Winter v. NRDC factors) and property_126 (Federal Reserved Water Rights — the Winters Doctrine) — concern unrelated legal doctrines that happen to share a word with this entry. Neither is a relevant cross-reference for winter heyning research.

WINTER HEYNINGmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

The season be- tween 11th November and 23d April, which is excepted from the liberty of commoning in certain forests. St. 23 Car. II. c. 3. WISBY, LAWS OF. The name given to a code of maritime laws promulgated at Wisby, then the capital of Gothland, in Swe- den, in the latter part of the thirteenth cent- ury. This compilation resembled the laws of Oleron in many respects, and was early adopted, as a system of sea laws, by the com- mercial nations of Northern Europe. It formed the foundation for the subsequent code of the Hanseatic League. A transla- tion of the Laws of Wisby may be seen in the appendix to 1 Pet. Adm. And see 3 Kent, Comm. 13.

WINTER HEYNINGmain

Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910

The season between llth November and 23d April, which is excepted from the liberty of commoning in certain forests. St. 23 Car. II. c 3. WISBY, LAWS OF. The name given to a code ,of maritime laws promulgated at Wisby, then the capital of Gothland, in Sweden, in the latter part of the thirteenth century. This compilation resembled the laws of Oleron in many respects, and was early adopted, as a system of sea laws, by the commercial nations of Northern Europe. It

WINTER HEYNINGmain

Rapalje & Lawrence • 1883

-The season between 11th November and 23d April, which is excepted from the liberty of commoning in certain forests. 23 Car. II. c. 3. WINTER SPERM OIL, (in a bill of parcels). 8 Wheel. Am. C. L. 349. WISBUY, ORDINANCES OF.-A code of maritime jurisprudence compiled at this place in the isle of Gothland, principally from the law of Oleron, in the year 1400, for the governance of the Baltic traders. See 3 Hall. Mid. Ages c. ix., pt. 2, p. 334. WISH, (in a will). 6 Jones (N. C.) Eq. 371. (of consignor to factor; when amounts to a command). 14 Pet. (U. S.) 479; 11 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 280. WISH AND DESIRE, (in a will). 2 Barn. & Ald. 710, 721. WISH AND WILL, IT IS MY, (in a will). 34 Ala. 349. WISH, I, (in a will). 1 Desaus. (S. C.) 377 n. WISH TO LEAVE, I, (in a will). 1 Phillim. 36. WISH, WILL, OR DESIRE, (when not sufficient WISTA.-Half a hide of land, or sixty 28. Effect of winding-up. The principal effects of a winding-up are: (1) Nothing can be done after its commencement, except with a view to realize the company's assets, enforce contributions from its members if necessary, and distribute them among its creditors, (see the Judicature Act, 1875, 2 10,) and then, if there is any surplus, among the members. (2) Liquidators to create a trust). 5 Fla. 51. must be appointed to carry out these objects. (3) No legal proceeding giving one creditor an advantage over another, can be taken against the company or the members, except by leave of the court, in the winding-up. (Companies Act, 1862, 285.) Where a company is being wound up compulsorily or subject to supervision in the High Court, the judge before whom it is pending may order any actions by or against the company pending in any other division to be transferred to him. Rules of Court, li. 2 a. See ADJUDICATION, 22; CLAIM, 22; CONTRIBU-chantment or conjuration, or for charging anTORY; DISSOLUTION, 3; LIQUIDATOR; and compare ADMINISTRATION; BANKRUPTCY. WINDOW.-See LIGHT. acres. WITAM.-The purgation from an offense by the oath of the requisite number of witnesses.

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