Hayward - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition hayward

Definition :

Hayward, one who keeps a common herd, of cattle of a town, and the reason of his being so called may be, because one part of his office is to see that they neither break nor cross the hedges of enclosed lands; or because he keeps the grass from hurt or destruction. He is an officer appointed in the lord's Court, to look to the fields and impound cattle trespassing thereon; to see that no pound breaches be made, and if any be, to present them to the leet, etc.,-Kitch. 46; Scriven on Copyholds.

A officer of a town or man or responsible for maintaining fences and hedges, esp. to prevent cattle from breaking through to an enclosed pasture; A cattle herdsman, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 723