The AI-powered English dictionary
countable and uncountable, plural deforcements
(law) A keeping out by force or wrong; a wrongful withholding, as of lands or tenements, to which another has a right. examples
(law, Scotland) Resistance to an officer in the execution of law. quotations examples
There was something in the air and tone of the young soldier, which seemed to argue that his interference was not likely to be confined to mere expostulation; and which, if it promised finally of a process of battery and deforcement, would certainly commence with the unpleasant circumstances necessary for founding such a complaint.
1816, Sir Walter Scott, The Antiquary, Oxford University Press, published 2002, page 397