In the Middle Ages, the brewing right or gruit right was one of the privileges granted by the land owner or territorial ruler.
Sometimes this right was linked to a plot or a house, called a "beer court"; sometimes the right was held by a hereditary judge, who might also hold the right to run a pub.
This right was first mentioned in a document when Emperor Otto II granted it to a church in Liege in 974.
They tried to enforce it for some distance outside the city gates, which sometimes led to bitter disputes with the people affected.
[1] The last remnants of the brewing monopoly were eliminated by the Beer Tax Law of 1918.