Hypertext Webster Gateway: "frankpledge"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Frankpledge \Frank"pledge`\, n. [Frank free + pledge.] (O. Eng.
Law)
(a) A pledge or surety for the good behavior of freemen, --
each freeman who was a member of an ancient decennary,
tithing, or friborg, in England, being a pledge for the
good conduct of the others, for the preservation of the
public peace; a free surety.
(b) The tithing itself. --Bouvier.
The servants of the crown were not, as now, bound
in frankpledge for each other. --Macaulay.
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