It has been very usual to represent mi litary service as the essential peculiarity of a feudal tenure. But the constituent and distinguishing element of that form of tenure was its being a tenancy merely, and not an ownership ; the enjoyment of land for certain services to be performed. In the state of society however in which the feudal system grew up, it was impos sible that military service should not be come the chief duty to which the vassal was bound. It was in such a state of so ciety the most important service which he could render to his lord. It was the species of service which the persons to whom fiefs were first granted seem to have been previously accustomed to ren der, and the continuance of which cordingly the grant of the fief was chiefly intended to secure. Yet military service, or knight-service as it was called in Eng land, though it was the usual, was by no means the necessary or uniform condition on which fiefs were granted. Any other honourable condition might be imposed which distinctly recognized the donnnium directum of the lord. KNIGHT-SERVICE.] Another common characteristic of fiefs, which in like manner arose incidentally out of the circumstances of the times in which they originated, was that they usually consisted of land. Land was in those times nearly the only species of wealth that existed; certainly the only form of wealth that had an considerable security or permanency. Yet there are not wanting instances of other things, such as pensions and offices, being granted as fiefs. It was a great question neverthe less among the feudists whether a fief could consist of money, or of any thing else than land; and perhaps the most eminent authorities have maintained that it could not. The preference thus shown for land by the spirit of the feudal cus toms has perhaps left deeper traces both upon the law, the political constitution, and the social habits and feelings of our own and other feudal countries than any other part of the system. We have thence derived not only the marked dis tinction (nearly altogether unknown to the Roman law) by which our law still dis criminates certain amounts of interest in lands and tenements under the name of real property from property of every other kind, but also the ascendency re tained by the former in nearly every respect in which such ascendency can be upheld either by institutions or by opinion.
The grant of land as a fief, especially when it was a grant from the suzerain, or supreme lord, whether called king or duke, or any other name, was, sometimes at least, accompanied with an express grant of jurisdiction. Thus every great tenai.t exercised a jurisdiction civil and criminal over his immediate tenants : he held courts and administered the laws within his lordship like a sovereign prince. It appears that the same jurisdic tion was often granted by the crown to the abbeys with their lands. The forma tion of MANORS in this country appears to have been consequent upon the es tablishment of feudalism. The existence of manor-courts, and so many small juris dictions within the kingdom, is one of the most permanent features of that polity which the Normans stamped upon this country.
In the infancy of the feudal system it is probable that the vassal was considered bound to attend his lord in war for any length of time during which his services might be required. Afterwards, when the situation of the vassal became more independent, the amount of this kind of service was fixed either by law or by usage. In England the whole country was divided into about 60,000 knights' fees ; and the tenant of each of these ap pears to have been obliged to keep the field at his own expense for forty days on every occasion on which his lord chose to call upon him. For smaller quantities of land proportionately shorter terms of service were due: at least such is the common statement ; although it seems improbable that the individuals com posing a feudal army could thus have the privilege of returning home some at one time, some at another. Women were
obliged to send their substitutes ; and so were the clergy, certain persons holding public offices, and men past the age of sixty, all of whom were exempted from personal service. The rule or custom however, both as to the duration of the service, and its extent in other respects, varied greatly in different ages and countries.
The other duties of the vassal were rather expressive of the relation of hon ourable subordination in which he stood to his lord, than services of any real or calculable value. They are thus summed up by Mr. Hallam :—"‘ It was a breach of faith to divulge the lord's counsel, to conceal from him the machinations of others, to injure his person or fortune, or to violate the sanctity of his roof and the honour of his family. It battle he was bound to lend his horse to his lord when dismounted; to adhere to his side while fighting, and to go into captivity as a hostage for him when taken. His at-. tendance was due to the lord's courts, sometimes to witness and sometimes to bear a part in the administration of justice." There were however various other substantial advantages derived by the lord. We have already mentioned the rights of wardship and of marriage, which were nearly peculiar to the do minions of the English crown. Besides these, there were the payment, called a relief, made by every new entrant upon the possession of the flee the escheat of the land to the lord when the tenant left no heir, and its forfeiture to him when the tenant was found guilty either of a breach of his oath of fealty, or of felony. There was besides a fine payable to the lord upon the alienation by the tenant of any part of the estate, if that was at all permitted. Finally, there were the vari ous Aids, as they were called, payable by the tenant. FAIDS.] The principal ceremonies used in con ferring a fief were homage, fealty, and investiture. The two first of these can not be more distinctly or more shortly described than in the words of Littleton: " Homage," says the Treatise of Tenures, " is the most honourable service, and most humble service of reverence, that a frank tenant may do to his lord : for when the tenant shall make homage to his lord, he shall be ungirt and his head uncovered, and his lord shall sit and the tenant shall kneel before him on both his knees, and hold his hands jointly together between the hands of his lord, and shall say thus : I become your man, from this day forward, of life and limb, and of earthly worship, and unto you shall be true and faithful, and bear you faith for the tenements that I claim to hold of you, saving the faith that I owe to our sove reign lord the king ; and then the lord, so sitting, shall kiss him." Religious persons and women instead of " I become your man," said " I do homage unto you." Here it is to be observed there was no oath taken; the doing of fealty consisted wholly in taking an oath, without any obeisance. "When a freeholder (frank tenant)," says Littleton, "doth fealty to his lord he shall hold his right hand upon a book, and shall say thus : Know ye this, my lord, that I shall be faithful and true unto you, and faith to you shall bear for the lands which I claim to hold of you, and that I shall lawfully do to you the customs and services which I ought to do at the terms assigned, so help me God and his saints ; and he shall kiss Cie book. But he shall not kneel when he maketb the fealty, nor shall make such (that is, any such, liel), humble reverence as is aforesaid in homage." [Famay.1 The investiture or the conveyance of feudal land is represented by the modern FEOFFMENT.