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In English law, an estover is an allowance made to a person out of an estate, or other thing, for his or her support. The word estover can also mean specifically an allowance of wood that a Leasehold estate is allowed to take from the commons, for life or a period of years, for the implements of husbandry, hedges and , and for firewood.
The Old English word for estover was bote or boot, also spelled bot or bót, (literally meaning 'good' or 'profit' and cognate with the word better). The various kinds of estovers were known as house-bote, cart or plough-bote, hedge or hay-bote, and fire-bote. Anglo-Saxon law also imposed "bot" fines in the modern sense of compensation.The legal phrase & n. scillingas to bote, "and n. shillings as compensation" often followed after other fines imposed for the same offense, and is the origin of the modern English phrase, "to boot". Anglo-Saxon dooms from 560-975 These rights might be restricted by express covenants. had similar rights over the land they occupied and over the waste of the manor, in which case the rights are known as Commons of estovers.
Burrill in his dated A law dictionary and glossary published in New York (1871) states:
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