Borough	Town possessing a local government y royal charter. Might be divided into divisions called wards.
Chapelry	A division of a large or populous parish having its own chapel.
City	A town that has a Cathedral or site of the sea of a Bishop of a diocese.
County	Civil division of country. Until 1974 - 40 counties.
Diocese	Consists of several ecclesiastical parishes.
Extra-Parochial	Land exempt from church and poor rates. Often issued marriage licenses and probated wills. Did not always have a church building.
Hamlet	Group of houses of a small village, usually without a church.
Hide	Amount of land considered necessary to support a peasant household in Saxon England, usually 40-120 acres.
Hundred	Subdivision of county having its own court. Contained 100 hides of land (ancient terminology).
Liberty	District within a county exempt from the jurisdiction of a sheriff, often possessed a chapel for baptisms and burials.
Parish	(1) Civil subdivision of county. (2) Ecclesiastical unit having a parish church.
Province	York and Canterbury
Registration District	Post-1837 division of country. Contains several civil parishes, liberties, precincts, and wards.
Stranger in Blood	In the law of United States and the Commonwealth, a stranger in blood is someone mentioned in a will who is not related by blood to the testator. It is therefore the opposite of next of kin.
Tything	A rural division originally of 10 householders (1/10 of a hundred). Exist today in Somerset and Wiltshire.
Village	Collection of houses, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town.
Wapentake	Administrative unit in the northern shires corresponding to Hundreds in the south.
Ward	Civil administrative division of a city or borough. Governed by an alderman and his deputy.

Updated: 31 August 2015 Have some other English Law terms to add? Please send them to genhelp@lcgsfl.org.