noun
- The right of a tenant or former spouse to take timber or other necessities from a property for fuel, repairs, or maintenance.
Usage: legal term; archaic; primarily used in property law and historical contexts
Examples
- The tenant claimed estovers to repair the cottage roof with wood from the estate.
- Medieval law granted estovers to peasants for gathering firewood on noble lands.
- The divorce settlement included estovers allowing her to harvest timber from the property.
- Estovers were essential rights that protected tenants from destitution in feudal times.
- The landlord disputed the widow's claim to estovers after her husband's death.