In medieval English land law, newly cultivated or cleared land, especially forest land brought under cultivation for farming.
From Old French 'essarter' meaning 'to clear land,' derived from Germanic roots relating to clearing and agriculture; the term entered English legal vocabulary during the Norman period.
The existence of special legal terms like 'asarta' shows that medieval England had an entire bureaucracy just for managing who could clear forests and farm new land—environmental regulation is way older than we think!
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