enemy; but no tolerable pretence could be assigned why the lord should have the sale or value of the marriage.

LIT. §§ 103, 110. Tenure by homage, fealty, and escuage is to hold by knight's service (per service de chivaler), and it draweth to it ward (gard), marriage, and relief. For when such tenant dieth, and his heir male be within the age of twenty-one years, the lord shall have the land holden of him until the age of the heir of twenty-one years; the which is called full age, because such heir, by intendment of the law, is not able to do such knight's service before his age of twenty-one years. And also if such heir be not married at the time of the death of his ancestor, then the lord shall have the wardship and marriage of him. But if such tenant dieth, his heir female being of the age of fourteen years or more, then the lord shall not have the wardship of the land, nor of the body; because that a woman of such age may have a husband able to do knight's service. But if such heir female be within the age of fourteen years, and unmarried at the time of the death of her ancestor, the lord shall have the wardship of the land holden of him until the age of such heir female of sixteen years; for it is given by the statute of W[estm]. I. cap. 22, that by the space of two years next ensuing the said fourteen years, the lord may tender covenable marriage without disparagement to such heir female. And if the lord within. the said two years do not tender such marriage, &c., then she at the end of the said two years may enter, and put out her lord. But if such heir female be married within the age of fourteen years, in the life of her ancestor, and her ancestor dieth, she being within the age of fourteen years, the lord shall have only the wardship of the land until the end of the fourteen years of age of such heir female, and then her husband and she may enter into the land and oust the lord. For this is out of the case of the said statute, insomuch as the lord cannot tender marriage to her which is married, &c. For before the said statute of W[estm]. I. such issue female, which was within the age of fourteen years at the time of the death of her ancestor, and after she had accomplished the age of fourteen years, without any tender of marriage by the lord unto her, such heir female might have entered into the land and ousted the lord, as appeareth by the rehearsal and words of the said statute; so as the said statute was made (as it seemeth) in such case altogether for the advantage of lords. But yet this is always intended by the words of the same statute, that the lord shall not have these two years after the fourteen years, as is aforesaid, but where such heir female is within the age of fourteen years, and unmarried at the time of the death of her

ancestor.

And of heirs males which be within the age of twenty-one years after the decease of their ancestor, and not married, in this case the lord shall have the marriage of such heir, and he shall have time and space to tender to him covenable marriage without disparagement within the said time of twenty-one years. And it is to be understood that the heir

in this case may choose whether he will be married or no; but if the lord, which is called guardian in chivalry, tenders to such heir covenable marriage within the age of twenty-one years without disparagement, and the heir refuseth this, and doth not marry himself within the said age, then the guardian shall have the value of the marriage of such heir male. But if such heir marrieth himself within the age of twentyone years, against the will of the guardian in chivalry, then the guardian shall have the double value of the marriage by force of the statute of Merton aforesaid, as in the same statute is more fully at large comprised.1

2 BL. COм. 71. Another attendant or consequence of tenure by knight-service was that of fines due to the lord for every alienation, whenever the tenant had occasion to make over his land to another. This depended on the nature of the feudal connection; it not being reasonable or allowed, as we have before seen, that a feudatory should transfer his lord's gift to another, and substitute a new tenant to do the service in his own stead, without the consent of the lord; and as the feudal obligation was considered as reciprocal, the lord also could not alienate his seignory without the consent of his tenant, which consent of his was called an attornment. This restraint upon the lords soon wore away; that upon the tenants continued longer.2

E. Escheat.

2 BL. Coм. 72. The last consequence of tenure in chivalry was escheat; which is the determination of the tenure, or dissolution of the mutual bond between the lord and tenant, from the extinction of the blood of the latter by either natural or civil means; if he died without heirs of his blood, or if his blood was corrupted and stained by commission of treason or felony; whereby every inheritable quality was entirely blotted out and abolished. In such cases the land escheated, or fell back, to the lord of the fee; that is, the tenure was determined by breach of the original condition expressed or implied in the feodal donation.

1 See St. 20 Hen. III. St. of Merton (1235), cc. 6, 7; St. Edw. I. St. of Westm. I. (1275), c. 22; Palmer's Case, 5 Co. 126 b; Darcy's Case, 6 Co. 70 b. — Ed.

2 "The tenant originally could not alien his fee without the license of the lord, for granting which a fine or payment was charged. The statute Quia emptores enabled tenants to alien without license; but this statute did not extend to the tenants in capite of the Crown. The claim of the Crown was afterwards settled by statute at a reasonable fine, which was adjudged to be one-third of the yearly value for license, and one year's value upon alienation without license. 18 Edw. I. c. 1; 1 Edw. III. c. 12; 34 Edw. III. c. 15; Co. Lit. 43 a, b; 2 Inst. 67." Leake, Dig. Land Law, 28.

SECTION IV.

SOCAGE TENURE.

1. Services.

LIT. §§ 117, 118, 120, 121. Tenure in socage is where the tenant holdeth of his lord the tenancy by certain service for all manner of services, so that the service be not knight's service. As where a man holdeth his land of his lord by fealty and certain rent, for all manner of services; or else where a man holdeth his land by homage, fealty, and certain rent, for all manner of services; or where a man holdeth his land by homage and fealty for all manner of services; for homage by itself maketh not knight's service.

Also, a man may hold of his lord by fealty only, and such tenure is tenure in socage; for every tenure which is not tenure in chivalry, is a tenure in socage.

Also, if a man holdeth of his lord by escuage certain, scil. in this manner, when the escuage runneth and is assessed by parliament to a greater or lesser sum, that the tenant shall pay to his lord but half a mark for escuage, and no more nor less, to how great a sum, or to how little the escuage runneth, &c., such tenure is tenure in socage, and not knight's service. But where the sum which the tenant shall pay for escuage is uncertain, scil. where it may be that the sum that the tenant shall pay for escuage to his lord may be at one time more and at another time less, according as it is assessed, &c., such tenure is tenure by knight's service.

Also, if a man holdeth his land to pay a certain rent to his lord for castle-guard, this tenure is tenure in socage. But where the tenant ought by himself or by another to do castle-guard, such tenure is tenure by knight's service.

LIT. §§ 130-132, 159-165. Also, if any will ask why a man may hold of his lord by fealty only for all manner of services, insomuch as when the tenant shall do his fealty, he shall swear to his lord that he will do to his lord all manner of services due, and when he hath done fealty, in this case no other service is due. To this it may be said, that where a tenant holds his land of his lord, it behooveth that he ought to do some service to his lord. For if the tenant nor his heirs ought to do no manner of service to his lord nor his heirs, then by long continuance of time it would grow out of memory, whether the land were holden of the lord or of his heirs, or not, and then will men more often and more readily say, that the land is not holden of the lord, nor of his heirs, than otherwise; and hereupon the lord shall lose his escheat of the land, or perchance some other forfeiture or profit which he might have of the land. So it is reason, that the lord and his heirs have some

service done unto them, to prove and testify that the land is holden of them.

And for that fealty is incident to all manner of tenures, but to the tenure in frankalmoign (as shall be said in the tenure of frankalmoign), and for that the lord would not at the beginning of the tenure have any other service but fealty, it is reason, that a man may hold of his lord by fealty only; and when he hath done his fealty, he hath done all his services.

Also, if a man letteth to another lands or tenements for term of life, without naming any rent to be reserved to the lessor, yet he shall do fealty to the lessor, because he holdeth of him. Also if a lease be made to a man for term of years, it is said that the lessee shall do fealty to the lessor, because he holdeth of him. And this is well proved by the words of the writ of waste, when the lessor hath cause to bring a writ of waste against him; which writ shall say, that the lessee holds his tenements of the lessor for term of years. So the writ proves a tenure between them. But he which is tenant at will according to the course of the common law, shall not do fealty, because he hath not any sure estate. But otherwise it is of tenant at will according to the custom of the manor; for that he is bound to do fealty to his lord for two causes. The one is by reason of the custom; and the other is, for that he taketh his estate in such form to do his lord fealty.

Tenure by petit serjeanty is, where a man holds his land of our sovereign lord the king to yield to him yearly a bow, or a sword, or a dagger, or a knife, or a lance, or a pair of gloves of mail, or a pair of gilt spurs, or an arrow, or divers arrows, or to yield such other small things belonging to war.

And such service is but socage in effect; because that such tenant by his tenure ought not to go, nor do anything, in his proper person, touching the war, but to render and pay yearly certain things to the king, as a man ought to pay a rent.

And note, that a man cannot hold by grand serjeanty, nor by petit serjeanty, but of the king, &c.

Tenure in burgage is where an ancient borough is, of which the king is lord, and they that have tenements within the borough hold of the king their tenements; that every tenant for his tenement ought to pay to the king a certain rent by year, &c. And such tenure is but tenure in socage.

And the same manner is, where another lord, spiritual or temporal, is lord of such a borough, and the tenants of the tenements in such a borough hold of their lord to pay each of them yearly an annual

rent.

And it is called tenure in burgage, for that the tenements within the borough be holden of the lord of the borough by certain rent, &c. And it is to wit that the ancient towns called boroughs be the most ancient towns that be within England; for the towns that now be cities or counties, in old time were boroughs, and called boroughs; for of

such old towns called boroughs come the burgesses of the parliament to the parliament, when the king hath summoned his parliament.

Also, for the greater part such boroughs have divers customs and usages which be not had in other towns. For some boroughs have such a custom that if a man have issue many sons and dieth, the youngest son shall inherit all the tenements which were his father's within the same borough, as heir unto his father by force of the custom; the which is called borough English.

2. Incidents.

LIT. §§ 126-129. Aso, the lord of whom the land is holden in socage, after the decease of his tenant, shall have relief in this manner. If the tenant holdeth by fealty and certain rent to pay yearly, &c., if the terms of payment be to pay at two terms of the year, or at four terms in the year, the lord shall have of the heir his tenant as much as the rent amounts unto, which he payeth yearly. As if the tenant holds of his lord by fealty, and ten shillings rent payable at certain terms of the year, then the heir shall pay to the lord ten shillings for relief, beside the ten shillings which he payeth for the rent.

And in this case, after the death of the tenant, such relief is due to the lord presently, of what age soever the heir be; because such lord cannot have the wardship of the body nor of the land of the heir. And the lord in such case ought not to attend for the payment of his relief, according to the terms and days of payment of the rent; but he is to have his relief presently, and therefore he may forthwith distrain after the death of his tenant for relief.

In the same manner it is, where the tenant holdeth of his lord by fealty and a pound of pepper or cummin, and the tenant dieth, the lord shall have for relief a pound of cummin or a pound of pepper, besides the common rent. In the same manner it is, where the tenant holdeth to pay yearly a number of capons or hens, or a pair of gloves, or certain bushels of corn, or such like.

But in some case the lord ought to stay to distrain for his relief until a certain time. As if the tenant holds of his lord by a rose, or by a bushel of roses, to pay at the feast of St. John the Baptist, if such tenant dieth in winter, then the lord cannot distrain for his relief until the time that roses by the course of the year may have their growth, &c. And so of the like.

Co. LIT. 77 a. He that holdeth of the king by socage in chief, and dieth, his heir of full age, the king shall have livery and primer seisin only of the lands so holden, and not of the lands holden of others. But if the heir of such a tenant in socage in chief be within the age of fourteen at the death of his ancestor, he shall neither sue livery, nor pay primer seisin, either then or any time after; and the reason thereof is, for that the custody of his body and lands in that case belong to the prochein amy, as guardian in socage. Neither shall the king have