Thistle - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition thistle

Definition :

Thistle, it was the custom within the manor of Halton, in Chester, that if, in driving beasts over a common, the driver permitted them to graze or take but a thistle, he should pay a halfpenny a-piece, called a 'thistle-take,' to the lord of the fee. And at Fiskerton, in Notinghamshire, by ancient custom, if a native or a cottager killed a swine above a year old, he paid to the lord a penny, which purchase of leave to kill a hog was also called thistle-take.

It has been held that an occupier of land has no duty towards his neighbour to prevent thistles from seeding, and is not liable to his neighbour for damage by the seeds being blown on to his neighbour's land, Giles v. Walker, (1890) 24 QBD 656