Lands held by serjeanty, on account of the entire nature of the service, could not lawfully be aliened or divided. This, however, was by a species of connivance frequently done in fact. The course was for the crown to issue a commission to fix a rent upon the alienated serjeanty, or the divided particas. By this process, tenancies in serjeanty gradually became nearly extinct before the abolition of military tenures. Sometimes, upon the escheat or forfeiture of a serjeanty, the lands were granted by the crown, to hold by knight's service, whereby the special service of the serjeanty was lost.
Where the services reserved upon the tenure bore some relation to war, but were required neither to be executed personally by the tenant or his deputy, nor to be peilormed to the person of the king, as the payment of rent in spurs, arrows, &c., the tenant was said to hold by petit or petty serjeanty, which was a socage tenure, having the same non-military incidents as a tenure upon which an annual rent in money, corn, &c., was reserved, though considered to be of a somewhat more dignified character.
The tenant in serjeanty was bound either to perform the special service himself, or to provide a person competent to discharge it. Sometimes, the land having descended to or been acquired by a citizen or a burgess, the service was considered of too great dignity to be per formed by the tenant upon whom the duty of the serjeanty had Unfit devolved, in which case he was required to appoint a competent sub stitute. It happened more frequently, however, that the service to be performed was below the serjeant' rank, in which case it was permitted and expected that the service should be performed by deputy. This became so much a matter of course, that we find lands held iu serjeanty commonly described as held by the service of procuring (per serviciura inveniendi) persons to do the duty. This frequently happened with regard to the inferior offices relating to the administration of the law, as in the ordinary case of a tenure by the service of finding bailiffs itinerant. With respect to this particular appointment and some few others, the name itself was transferred from the appointer to the appointee, and the designation of serjeant was given to the person by whom the service of the serjeanty was actually performed. Hence our serjciints-at-mace, and other similar officers in Normandy and in England. In like manner, the sheriff being the ballivus of the county, —that is, the person into whose custody or bailiwick the county Is bailed or delivered,—the inferior officers whom he employs have acquired the name of bailiffs. However humble the nature of the
service may have been, the tenant was bound to perform It in person, in case no substitute could be obtained.
Among the civil services the performance of which was provided for by the creation of serjeanties, one of the most important was tho administration of justice. Both in Normandy and in England nume rous grants of lands were made, to which grants the obligation to dis charge certain judicial or ministerial duties was annexed in lieu of tho ordinary knight's service. In both countries it would appear that all counties, as well as the more important cities and boroughs, were placed under an officer of the crown who held lands by the tenure of administering justice In criminal matters. This local judge was in England called the king's serjeant (serviens regis), or the serjeaut of the county, city, or borough ; sometimes (Mat. Westm. I., c. 30) serjeant in fee; sometimes capitalis serviette of the county (' Rot. Parl 236) or of the hundred (' Testa de Nevil,' 409 d).
Lands held by this tenure are commonly described in ancient records as lands held per serjeantitun tenendi (sometimes custodiendi) placita corona,. It appears from Ilracton, fol. 157; that this officer (the king's serjeant) had a concurrent jurisdiction with the sheriff, and that their records were equally incapable of being controverted. These serjeant had officers under them, who, taking the denomination of serjeant from the hereditary officer whose authority was in part delegated to them, were in counties known by the name of serjeanty of the sword, eergena do l'espeo, servientes ad spatam, and in cities and boroughs by the name of serjeants-at-tnace, serviontea ad clavam. In the course of time, as charters were obtained, the citizens and burgesses acquired the right of choosing their own magistrates ; and the king's officer, the serjeant, was superseded by the municipal officers, the mayor and aldermen. It is said that Norwich had no magistrate, except the kings serjeant, until the 17th year of King Stephen. (Stow, 214; Spelrnan, Gloss.) It sometimes happened that, after the incorpo ration of the city or town, 'the serjeant continued to be the judicial officer de facto, sitting as assessor to the municipal magistrates. This was the case at Oxford. (' Harleian MSS.,' 298, fol. 56.) In London the office appears to have been retained, but a charter of 12 Edw. II. gave to the citizens the privilege of electing their common aerjeant.