VILLEIN, or VILLAIN, denotes a species of bondman subject to his feudal superior. The word is from the low Latin form Vatosiss, which is from the Latin word Villa. In England, during the Anglo Saxon period, a large part of the people appear to have been in a gervile condition, either as domestic slaves or cultivators of the land. The power of the master among the Anglo-Saxons, though very extensive, had some limits. If a master beat out the eye or the tooth of his slave, the slave was entitled to his freedom ; if he killed him, he paid a fine to the king, unless the slave lived a day after the wound was inflicted, in which cane the offence was unpunished. The Norman Conquest did not materially alter the etato of slavery in England. The lands were transferred to Norman masters, and the 61aves passed as part of the property. After the Conquest there were four classes of skives : 1, Villeins in gross, who were the personal property of their lords, and performed the lowest household duties. They were very numerous, and were frequently sold and even exported to foreign countries. (Walaingham, ' Hist. Aug.,' p. 258.) 2, Villeins regardant, or erreclial slaves, who were attached to the soil, and specially engaged in agriculture. These were in a better condition than villeins in gross,
were allowed many indulgences, and even, in some cases, a limited kind of property ; yet the law held that the person and property of the villein belonged entirely to his lord, the rule being the same as that in the Roman law, that whatever was acquired through the slave was acquired by the lord. 3, A class called Cottarii is mentioned iu Domes day Book ; and 4, in the 1141118 book a class called Bordarii. But the first two dames in fact comprised all the villeins.
The legal condition of villeins in the reign of Edward IV., when Littleton wrote his Book of Tenures, appears from that work, Sections 172-208.
In England a few instances of prredial servitude existed so late as the reign of Elizabeth, and perhaps at a still later period. (Barrington, ' Ou the Statutes,' 274 ; Hallam's! ' Middle Ages,' vol. In some parts of France it existed down to the time of the Revolution. (Snayser.) (Bracton ; Littleton ; Coke's First /mt.; Reeve*, Ilist. of Engles! Late ; Blackatone's Commentaries.)