The legal offense of wrongfully taking possession of or withholding property, especially land.
From deforce + -ment (abstract noun suffix). This is a highly archaic legal term from medieval English common law, now rarely used except in historical legal studies.
Deforcement cases in 14th-century England were actually sophisticated—they required proving not just possession, but intent and knowledge of wrongdoing, making them medieval property law's most complex suits.
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