Essoins were excuses for non-attendance at a court session. It was anticipated that, for various reasons, a man might not be able to attend a court session to prosecute or defend a charge and so provision was made for a certain number of absences without penalty, which were expected to be genuine and valid. Permissible excuses were: illness serious enough to confine one to bed; absence abroad; being busy in the king's service; and misadventure en route to court. The excuse had to be presented by some friend or agent of the essoined party; some men appear so frequently delivering essoins that it seems they did it as part of their livelihood. Since only in certain cases could judgements be rendered in the persistent absence of a defendant, essoins were often used as part of a strategy to delay the progress of cases. Some types of case, requiring speedy remedy, restricted or eliminated them.

This definition is in context to Medieval Town. See more contextual defintions for Essoin.