ATTORNMENT, or ATTOURNAIENT, (Attor namentum, from the Fr. Tourner,) in the law of England, signifies the tenant's acknowledgment of a new lord, in the sale of lands, &c.
This practice derives its origin from the nature of feudal tenures, and from the spirit of the feudal cus toms. For, as by that system it was held to be nei ther reasonable nor proper, that a feudatory should transfer his lord's gift to another, and substitute a new tenant, without the consent of the lord ; neither, on the other hand, was it deemed allowable for a lord to alienate his scignory without the consent of his te nant, which consent was called an attornment. And the doctrine of attornment was afterwards extended to all lessees for life or years.
In the course of time, however, the necessity of attornment was modified and restricted by the statute Quia emptores terrarum, (18 Edw. I. st. 1.) ; the statute of uses (27 Hen. VIII. c. 10.), and by the statute of trills (34 & 35 Hen. VIII. c. 5.) At
length, both the necessity and efficacy of attornments were almost entirely taken away by the statute 4 and 5 Ann. c. 1G, which enacts, that all grants and con veyances of manors, lands, rents, and reversions, &c. by fine or otherwise, shall be good, without the at tornment of the tenants. And by the statute 11 Geo. II. c. 19. attornments of lands, &c. made by tenants to strangers claiming title to the estate of their land lords shall be null and void, and shall not affect their landlord's possession. This, however, shall not extend to annul any attornment made pursuant to a judg ment at law, or with consent of the landlord ; or to a mortgagee on a forfeited tnortgage.
Since the passing of these statutes, the doctrine of attornment,—which formerly was one of the most copious and abstruse in the law,—may be considered as almost entirely obsolete and useless. See Jacob's Law (z)