What is "jail limits"

Jail \Jail\ (j[=a]l), n. [OE. jaile, gail, gayhol, OF. gaole, gaiole, jaiole, F. ge[^o]le, LL. gabiola, dim. of gabia cage, for L. cavea cavity, cage. See Cage.] A kind of prison; a building for the confinement of persons held in lawful custody, especially for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding. [Written also gaol.]

This jail I count the house of liberty.
--Milton.

Jail delivery, the release of prisoners from jail, either legally or by violence.

Jail delivery commission. See under Gaol.

Jail fever (Med.), typhus fever, or a disease resembling it, generated in jails and other places crowded with people; -- called also hospital fever, and ship fever.

Jail liberties, or Jail limits, a space or district around a jail within which an imprisoned debtor was, on certain conditions, allowed to go at large.
--Abbott.

Jail lock, a peculiar form of padlock; -- called also Scandinavian lock.