Meaning
Freely, with no legal or practical obstruction, delay, restraint or interference. Formal and legalistic. 'Let' means impediment here; it does not mean permission. Regional use: British and Commonwealth formal English.
Origin
The confusing word is 'let,' which once meant an obstacle or an act of hindering, the opposite of its familiar modern verb sense 'allow.' Legal and administrative English paired the near-synonyms 'let' and 'hindrance' for emphasis. 'Let or hinder' is documented in a 1574 multilingual dictionary, and the fuller formula survives conspicuously in passport language.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Without any let or hindrance
Usage Examples
- The permit allowed the bearer to pass without let or hindrance.
- Once the fallen tree was cleared, the carts reached market without any let or hindrance.
- The old deed granted access to the well without let or hindrance.