landed society

Noun

landed society (countable and uncountable, plural landed societies)

1. (uncountable) A British socio-economic class of landowners, socially just below the aristocracy or peerage, who could live entirely from rental income.
   • As defined by English judges, common law itself offered tenants some minimal protections that eighteenth-century New York rentiers had often ignored. Thus the legal custom of landed society had exempted from seizure beasts of plow, certain essential household goods, and especially the implements of...1991, Elizabeth Blackmar, Manhattan for Rent, 1785-1850, →ISBN, page 222
   • What makes this particular period so interesting is the remarkably volatile nature of the land market in Scotland; an enormous amount of land changed hands, and some minor noble families made quite staggering inroads into the highest levels of landed society.2004, Keith M. Brown, Noble Society in Scotland, →ISBN, page 25
2. (countable) A socio-economic system in which wealth and status are derived primarily from land ownership.
   • It was a landed society, a society which regarded only land and landed wealth as ultimately acceptable in creating status.1982, David B. Quinn, Early Maryland in a Wider World, page 115
   • For them Locke was the classic theorist of landed society and the landholder, not of commerce and mercantile interests.1984, Neal Wood, John Locke and Agrarian Capitalism, →ISBN, page 113
3. (countable) A secret society that owns its own premises.
   • It is a traditional peer society to Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head, as the three senior classes landed societies at Yale.2011, Willie Thomas Butler, The Kingdom Life Approach, →ISBN, page 357
   • Societies that own tombs or halls are sometimes known as 'landed' societies. The three oldest landed societies are Skull and Bones (1832), Scroll and Key, (1841) and Wolf's Head, (1883).2015, Arthur Morius Francis, Secret Societies Vol. 3: The Collegiate Secret Societies of America, →ISBN
4. (countable) A landowner's association.
   • In October 1940 the Forestry Commissioners enlisted the services of forestry and landed societies to help with the distribution of wire and rabbit netting to private estates requiring it for afforestation purposes.1939, Scottish Forestry Journal - Volumes 53-58, page 2
   • But delaying the "reform" was the cattle farmers' lobby and other landed societies, which were actively vying to counter the so-called "Communist" influence of the National Peasant Union, a powerful lobby challenging the status quo.1977, Franz Pick, Pick's Currency Yearbook, page 285