frankpledge
/ˈfræŋkplɛdʒ/
noun
- In medieval English law, a system in which groups of ten or more families were responsible for each other's behavior and for bringing any member who broke the law to court.
- Under the frankpledge system, every man over the age of twelve had to belong to a tithing.
- The local lord enforced the frankpledge to maintain order in the village.
- Historians study frankpledge to understand how communities policed themselves in the Middle Ages.