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Franchise - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
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Franchise : (noun)
1: an authorization to sell a company's goods or services in a
particular place
2: a business established or operated under an authorization to
sell or distribute a company's goods or services in a
particular area [syn: dealership]
3: a statutory right or privilege granted to a person or group
by a government (especially the rights of citizenship and
the right to vote) [syn: enfranchisement]
(verb)
1: grant a franchise to
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Franchise : \Fran"chise\ (? or ?; 277), n. [F., fr. franc, fem.
franche, free. See Frank, a.]
1. Exemption from constraint or oppression; freedom; liberty.
[Obs.] --Spenser.
2. (LAw) A particular privilege conferred by grant from a
sovereign or a government, and vested in individuals; an
imunity or exemption from ordinary jurisdiction; a
constitutional or statutory right or privilege, esp. the
right to vote.
Election by universal suffrage, as modified by the
Constitution, is the one crowning franchise of the
American people. --W. H.
Seward.
3. The district or jurisdiction to which a particular
privilege extends; the limits of an immunity; hence, an
asylum or sanctuary.
Churches and mobasteries in Spain are franchises for
criminals. --London
Encyc.
4. Magnanimity; generosity; liberality; frankness; nobility.
``Franchise in woman.'' [Obs.] --Chaucer.
Elective franchise, the privilege or right of voting in an
election of public officers.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Franchise : \Fran"chise\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Franchised; p. pr.
& vb. n. Franchising.] [Cf. OF. franchir to free, F., to
cross.]
To make free; to enfranchise; to give liberty to. --Shak.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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FRANCHISE. This word has several significations: 1. It is a right reserved
to the people by the constitution; hence we say, the elective franchise, to
designate the right of the people to elect their officers. 2. It is a
certain privilege, conferred by grant from the government, and Vested in
individuals.
2. Corporations, or bodies politic, are the most usual franchises known
to our law. They have been classed among incorporeal hereditaments, perhaps
improperly, as they have no inheritable quality.
3. In England, franchises are very numerous; they, are said to be royal
privileges in the hands of a subject. Vide 3 Kent, Com. 366; 2 Bouv. Inst.
n. 1686; Cruise,' Dig. tit. 27; 2 Bl. Com. 37; 15 Serg. & Rawle, 130; Finch,
164.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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