TENURE OF LAND, in England, was an accompaniment or immediate consequence of the feudal system (q.v.) established during the middle ages throughout the greater part of Europe. Feuds were introduced by the barbarous tribes who poured themselves into the Roman empire during the 4th, 5th, and 6th centuries. The chief feature of feuds was, that the lands of the conquered country were parceled out to the. leaders, on the condition of bearing arms whenever the sovereign required them. The relation thus created between sovereign and vassal was called a feud. The grantee held his lands at first for life only, but gradually it was developed into a hereditary character, and also into one which admitted of subinfeudation, i.e. the p irccling out of the feudal land among vassals of the head vassal, who was the i.e., of his own vassals. This kind of relation between lord and vassal gradually was extended to all kinds of land, for the owners of allodial land voluntarily surrendered their land to some lord, so as to have the same advantages. The vassal did homage to the lord, and took the oath of fealty. Besides these characteristics, the holding came to be attended with the following incid ents. 1. An aid, which was a payment granted to help the lord in his necessities. A relief was a tribute paid by a new tenant on succeeding to his predecessor. 3. A fine was paid by a tenant to the lord on alienating the lands to a purchaser. 4. An escheat or forfeiture was the reverting of the estate to the lord when there was a failure of heirs or some violation of 'duty on the part of the vassal. The feudal system was extended to England by the Norman barons soon after the conquest, with the concurrence of Wil Barn I., much to the dislike of the Saxons, whose grievances grew until they found vent in Magna Charta, which was in fact an attempt to restore their earlier constitution. The chief:fiction, however, of a relation between the crown and the holders of land was not got rid of. The crown was nominally the lord paramount, and there were inter mediate lords called mesne lords, of whom the tenants held. Gradually, the kinds of tenure were classed under free and base services—the former being those which a free man might perform, as serving in war, or paying a sum of money; the latter, such as a peasant might perform, such as ploughing the lord's land, etc. These were afterward further distinguished according to the certainty or uncertainty of the extended service to be performed. Ultimately, the tenures were classed as three. 1. or chiv alry, i.e., holding on condition of serving in the war, and taking the oath of fealty. This was accompanied by the incidents of descent, wardship (or guardianship of the knight's heir by the lord), marriage (i.e., the lord's right to give the knight's infant in marriage), aids, reliefs, primer seism (i.e., one year's profits from an heir on his succession), fine, escheat, and forfeiture. These incidents gradually grew irksome. James I. proposed to commute knight-service into an annual fee-farm rent; but this not being done, the stat ute of 12 Ch. II. c. 24 swept the whole away, and converted it into free socage. 2. Free,
socage was a tenure by some certain and determinate service, as by paying a small fixed rent, or ploughing the lord's lands for a fixed number of days. The incidents were rather less burdensome than those of knight-service, being descent, wardship, marriage, and reliefs, primer seisin, fines, escheat, and forfeiture. These incidents were all abol ished by the above statute of 12 Ch. II. c. 24, and the tenure of free socage is now gen erally known as freehold. 3. Villeinage service, or copyhold tenure (q.v.), which still exists nearly in its original state. The result is, that in England at the present day the two tenures are freehold and copyhold. The leading characteristic of freehold is, that practically the feudal relation between the crown and the holder is cut off, and the holder is entirely his own lord and master, can sell the estate, devise it by will, give it away, and do what he likes with it free from any interference or payment to the crown. As to copyhold, the feudal relation is kept up to a certain extent between the lord and the copyhold tenants, who must in form pay rents more or less nominal, and fines and heroits (q.v.) to the lord on alienating the lands or succeeding thereto. Yet, practically, the copyholder does not materially differ from a freeholder except that he is liable to these petty and harassing acknowledgments toward a stranger; and by recent statutes, he can compel the lord of the manor to commute these fines and incidents, and convert the tenure into freehold.
In Ireland the tenure of land is almost identical with that in England.
As to Scotland there is a marked difference between the tenure of lands there and the tenure in England. At the present day the feudal system prevails to a great extent, resembling in many respects the English copyhold tenure. Every piece of land there has generally its lord or superior and its vassal, that is say, the vassal has the dominium 'utile, or actual enjoyment, while the superior has a kind of superior interest, or dominium directum, which consists in his drawing a rent .called a feuduty, which the vassal is bound to pay, or to forfeit the land. On each alienation or death of the vassal, there must be cer tain forms superadded, implying a consent or recognition by the superior, and certain casualties or additional payments must be made on such occasions. Recent statutes have tended to extinguish several of these superfluous forms, and make the vassal more independent. But a great many remain unaltered. And not only is there this feudal relation betWeen the crown and its vassals, but these may subdivide the property and create intermediate estates without limit, each vassal being in turn the superior to his subvassal; and this endless chain of relationships complicates the conveyancing still more. See CONVEYANCING; FEU. •