A legal writ or action of detinue; a claim for unlawful detention of personal property.
From Anglo-Norman French detinet 'detains,' third-person singular of detenir. Ultimately from Latin detinere 'to hold back.' This is a medieval legal term preserved in English law.
Detinet is a wonderfully archaic legal term that shows how English law absorbed Norman French after the 1066 conquest—it's still used in property law to describe when someone wrongfully holds your belongings, preserving medieval legal concepts in modern courtrooms.
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