| n. | 1. | The act of gathering after reapers; that which is collected by gleaning. |
GLEANING. The act of gathering such grain in a field where it grew, as may,
have been left by the reapers after the sheaves were gathered.
2. There is a custom in England, it is said, by which the poor are
allowed to enter and glean upon another's land after harvest without being
guilty of a trespass. 3 Bl. Com. 212 . But it has been decided that the
community are not entitled to claim this privilege as a right. 1 Hen. Bl.
51. In the United States, it is believed, no such right exists. This right
seems to have existed in some parts of France. Merl. Rep. mot Glanage. As to
whether gleaning would or would not amount to larceny, vide Woodf. Landl. &
Ten. 242; 2 Russ. on Cr. 99. The Jewish law may be found in the 19th chapter
of Leviticus, verses 9 and 10. See Ruth, ii. 2, 3; Isaiah, xvii. 6.