ABBUTALS, among Law-Writers, denote the Buttings or Boundings of a piece of Land ; expressing on what other Lands, Highways, or the like, the several Extremes thereof do abut, or terminate. Thus, in Croke, the Plaintiff is said to fail in his Abbutals, i. e. in setting forth how the Land is bounded.
In strictness, 'tis only the extreme Corners are said to abut ; the Sides are said to be adjacent. Latera autem nunquam aiunt Abuttare ; sed terrain proximam adjacere. Camden.
The Word is apparently form'd of the French abouter, to terminate upon. Tho Camden advances another Etymology.---"They who have wrote of Limits, say, that certain Hillocks of Earth, term'd Botentines, were placed therein, by way of Marks : whence, perhaps, our Buttings, and Boundings."
