mesne

• POS: Adjective

CIDE DICTIONARY

mesne, a. [Cf. Mean intermediate.].

 Middle; intervening; as, a mesne lord, that is, a lord who holds land of a superior, but grants a part of it to another person, in which case he is a tenant to the superior, but lord or superior to the second grantee, and hence is called the mesne lord.  [1913 Webster]

Mesne process, intermediate process; process intervening between the beginning and end of a suit, sometimes understood to be the whole process preceding the execution. Blackstone. Burrill. -- Mesne profits, profits of premises during the time the owner has been wrongfully kept out of the possession of his estate. Burrill.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

mesne, adj. Law intermediate.

Idiom

mesne lord hist. a lord holding an estate from a superior feudal lord. mesne process proceedings in a suit intervening between a primary and final process. mesne profits profits received from an estate by a tenant between two dates.

Etymology

ME f. law F, var. of AF meen, MEAN(3): cf. DEMESNE