(Merchetum), a fine or composition paid by inferior tenants to the lord, for liberty to dispose of their daughters in marriage. No baron, nor 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. According to Mr. Astle, the merchetum was a compact between the lord and his vassal for the redemption of an offence committed by the vassal's unmarried daughter; and also a fine paid by a sokeman or a villain to his lord for permission to marry his daughter to a free man; but in cases where the vassal gave away his daughter without having obtained this license, he subjected himself to a heavier fine.