Amercement

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A monetary fine enforced by a legal authority as punishment for an offense
2. A legal penalty requiring payment of a sum of money as a consequence of breaking the law
3. An imposed financial charge mandated by a court for violating rules or statutes

Etymology: The phrase "à merci" in Old French meant "at mercy," and that is the heart of this word. An amercement was a fine levied at the mercy of the court: the offender was held to be in the lord's or king's power, and the penalty was assessed according to the judgment of his peers rather than fixed by statute. The idea of a penalty set by discretion, not by a rule, is built into the word from the start. The English word came through Anglo-Norman "amercier," meaning to fine, and the suffix "-ment," which turns a verb into a noun for a result or act. Medieval Latin writers later produced "amerciamentum" as a learned Latinized form of the Anglo-Norman "amerciament," and that Latin version helped shape the spelling. The base verb "amerce" followed the same path, so the noun is simply the act or result of amercing someone.