(MERCETUM), a fine or composition paid by inferior tenants to the lord, for liberty to dispose of their daughters in marriage. No baron, or military tenant, could marry his sole daughter and heir, without such leave purchased from the king, pro maritanda filia. And many of our servile tenants could neither send their sons to school, nor give their daughters in marriage, without express leave from the superior lord. See Kennet's Glossary in Maritagium. See also MARCHET.