Ancient Celtic Law. Also coneveth(e, cuneveth(e, conevet. [a. Irish coinmeadh, in Tigernach 1163 connmedh:—*condmed billeting, inf. or vbl. sb. of vb. condmim I billet; cf. coinnemh billeting, COYNIE. (See Stokes, Trans. Phil. Soc., 1890.)] One of the burdens upon land in Scotland under the Celtic kings: see quot. 1880.
1127. Charter of Robert Bp. of St. Andrews, in Chart. Coldingh., 41. Concessimus et confirmavimus ecclesiam de Coldingham liberam et quietam … ab omni … consuetudine et cana et cunevethe, atque ab omni servitio quod ad nos pertinet.
c. 1190, 1251. [see CAIN. Also various examples in Skene, Celtic Scotl., III. 227–32].
1860. Cosmo Innes, Scotland in Middle Ages, iv. 121. Kain and conveth, imposts not altogether abolished till a later period. Ibid. (1872), Sc. Legal Antiq., II. 205. Conveth seems to have been a due collected by a lord from his vassals, perhaps on the occasion of journeys. Malcolm the Fourth granted to the canons of Scone … this privilege, that no one should take conveth from their men and lands except with their consent.
1880. Skene, Celtic Scotl., III. 232. Conveth … came to signify a night’s meal or refection given by the occupiers of the land to their superior when passing through his territory, which was exigible four times in the year; and when the tribe territory came to be recognized as crown land, it became a fixed food contribution charged upon each ploughgate of land.
