This word has had various meanings at different stages of history. In the Roman law, it denoted one who was either bom free or emancipated, and was the opposite of “slave.” In feudal law, It designated an allodial proprietor, as distln-guished from a vassal or feudal tenant (And so in Pennsylvania colonial law. Fry’s Elec-tion Case, 71 Pa. 308, 10 Am. Rep. 698.) in old English law, the word described a freeholder or tenant by free services; one who was not a villein. In modern legal phraseology, it is the appellation of a member of a city or borough having the right of suffrage, or a member of any municipal corporation invested with full civic rights
Source: Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
