c. 2. Cum quis itaque clamet aliquod liberum tenementum vel servitium tenendum de alio per liberum servitium, non poterit inde trahere tenentem in placitum sine brevi domini regis vel ejus justiciarum; habebit ergo ad dominum suum, de quo idem clamat tenere, breve de recto. Quod, si placitum fuerit de terra, tale erit :

c. 3. Rex Comiti W. salutem. Praecipio tibi quod sine dilatione teneas plenum rectum N. de decem carucatis terrae in Middleton, quas clamat tenere de te per liberum servitium feodi unius militis1 pro omni servitio, vel per liberum servitium centum solidorum per annum pro omni servitio2, vel per liberum servitium unde duodecim carucatae terrae faciunt feodum unius militis pro omni servitio3, vel quas clamat pertinere ad liberum tenementum suum quod de te tenet in eadem villa, vel in Mortune, per liberum servitium, etc. vel per servitium, etc. vel quas clamat tenere de te de libero maritagio M. matris suae, vel in liberum burgagium, vel in liberam eleemosynam, vel per liberum servitium eundi tecum in exercitum domini regis cum duobus equis ad custum suum pro omni servitio, vel per liberum servitium inveniendi tibi unum arbelastarium in exercitum domini regis per quadraginta dies pro omni servitio, quas R. filius W. ei deforciat. Et nisi feceris, Vicecomes de Northamptone faciat, ne amplius inde clamorem audiam pro defectu justiciae.

c. 6. Solent autem placita ista in curiis dominorum, vel eorum qui loco dominorum habentur, deduci, secundum rationabiles consuetudines ipsarum curiarum ; quae tot et tam variae sunt, ut in scriptum de facili reduci non possunt.

See above, p. 62, note 2.

2 It became at this time very common to commute services due for the land for a money payment. This would not affect the tenure of the lands. Whether the tenure was by knight-service or in socage would still depend on the nature of the services in respect of which the commutation was paid.

3 The language here, which is the common form, seems to point to the process of composition for the general burden of military service by burdening some lands specially with the service to the freedom of the others, and thus constituting knights' fees. See above, p. 40.

* As to 'frank marriage,' see below, § 7, note.

5 As to burgage tenure, see above, p. 48, and Littleton, lib. ii. c. 10. §§ 162-171.

6 As to libera eleemosyna, see above, p. 39, and Littleton, lib. ii, c. 6. §§ 133-142.

§ 3. Relation of Lord and Free Tenant.

The following passages state the substance of the law as to the relation between the lord and his freehold tenant and their mutual rights and duties. This branch of the law is treated more elaborately by Bracton, but the outline here traced by Glanvill remains substantially unaltered.

The tie which created the relation of lord and tenant, at all events tenant by military service, was homage. Bracton1, borrowing from the definition of obligatio by the Roman lawyers 2, defines homage as 'juris vinculum quo quis astringitur ad warrantizandum, defendendum, et acquietandum tenentem suum in seisina versus omnes per certum servitium in donatione nominatum et expressum; et etiam vice versa quo tenens re obligatur et astringitur ad fidem domino suo servandam et servitium debitum faciendum.' In the same passage Bracton gives a more detailed statement of the consequences of homage, the obligation it imposes on lord and tenant, and of the modes by which the tie may be dissolved. This however belongs so entirely to the obsolete portion of our law that it is needless to pursue the subject into further detail. If by any means, such as escheat for felony, or failure of heirs, or repudiation of his duties as lord, the tie was dissolved as between the tenant and his immediate lord, the intermediate seignory was as it were taken away, and the relation of lord and tenant arose between the tenant and the superior lord of whom the intermediate lord himself had held. The superior lord could not in this case refuse to accept the homage of the tenant, who, as Bracton more than once says, had all along been 'tenens suus, quamvis per medium.' In the same way, if the tenant alienated the whole of his land the alienee would be tenant of the lord of whom the land had been held, and he would be compelled to receive the homage of the alienee.

1 Fol. 78 b.

3 See Reeves, i. pp. 310-312.

2 See Institutes of Justinian, iii. 13. See below, § 4.

Lib. ix. c. I. Praedictis restat continuandum de homagiis faciendis et releviis recipiendis. Mortuo siquidem patre vel alio quocunque alicujus antecessore, tenetur dominus feodi ab initio recipere homagium recti haeredis, sive fuerit infra aetatem haeres ipse sive plenam habuerit aetatem, dummodo masculus sit. Feminae enim nullum homagium facere possunt de jure1, licet plerumque fidelitatem 2 dominis suis praestare soleant. Veruntamen si fuerint maritatae, mariti earum homagium dominis suis de feodo illarum facere debent. Ita dico si feoda illa homagium debeant. Sin autem haeres masculus fuerit et minor, nullam de jure vel de ipso haerede vel de tenemento suo habere debet custodiam dominus feodi, donec ipsius haeredis receperit homagium; quia generaliter verum est quod nullum servitium sive relevium sive aliud potest quis ab haerede, sive fuerit major sive minor, exigere, donec ipsius haeredis receperit homagium de tenemento unde servitium habere clamat. Potest autem quis plura homagia diversis dominis facere de feodis diversis diversorum dominorum. Sed unum eorum oportet esse precipuum, et cum ligeancia factum; illi scilicet domino faciendum, a quo tenet suum capitale tenementum is qui homagium facere debet. Fieri autem debet homagium sub hac forma, scilicet ut is qui homagium facere debet, ita fiat homo domini sui, quod fidem illi portet, de illo tenemento unde homagium suum praestat, et quod ejus in omnibus terrenum honorem servet, salva fide debita domino regi et haeredibus suis. Ex hoc liquet quod vassallus, non potest dominum suum infestire, salva fide homagii sui, nisi forte se defendendo, vel nisi ex praecepto principis cum

1 This seems to have been changed in later times. Littleton speaks of a woman doing homage; lib. ii. c. 1. § 87.

2 Fealty is the same that fidelitas is in Latin. And when a freeholder 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 the book. But he shall not kneel when he maketh his fealty, nor make such humble reverence as is aforesaid in homage.'-Littleton, Coke's translation, lib. ii. c. 2. § 91.

3 Compare the form of homage given in Littleton, lib. i. c. 10. § 85. The ceremony was public, in the court of the county or hundred or in the court baron, so that the lord might have witnesses of the fact.

eo iverit contra dominum suum in exercitum. Et generaliter nihil de jure facere potest quis salva fide homagii quod vertat ad exhaeredationem domini sui vel ad dedecus corporis sui. Si quis ergo plura homagia pro diversis feodis suis fecerit diversis dominis qui se invicem infestent; si capitalis dominus ejus ei praeceperit quod secum in propria persona sua eat contra alium dominum suum, oportet eum ejus praecepto in hoc obtemperare, salvo tamen servitio alterius domini de feodo quod de eo tenet. Patet itaque ex praedictis, quod si quis aliquid ad exhaeredationem domini sui fecerit, et super hoc convictus fuerit, feodum quod de eo tenet de jure amittet et haeredes ejus. Idem quoque erit si manus violentas quis in dominum suum injecerit eum laedendo vel atroci injuria afficiendo, et hoc fuerit in curia versus eum legitime comprobatum. Sed utrum in curia domini sui teneatur quis se defendere versus dominum suum de talibus objectis, quaero; et utrum dominus suus possit eum ad id faciendum distringere per considerationem curiae suae2 sine praecepto domini regis vel ejus justiciarum, vel sine brevi domini regis vel ejus capitalis justiciae. Et quidem de jure poterit quis hominem suum per judicium curiae suae deducere et distringere ad curiam suam venire.

Sin autem non poterit quis tenentes suos justiciare, tunc demum ad curiae refugium erit necessarium decurrere. Potest autem homo liber masculus homagium facere, tam is qui aetatem habet, quam is qui infra aetatem est, tam clericus quam laicus. Episcopi vero consecrati homagium facere non solent domino regi etiam de baroniis suis. Sed fidelitatem cum juramentis interpositis ipsi praestare solent. Electi vero in episcopos ante consecrationem suam homagia sua facere solent.

§4. Feudal Incidents.

The following extracts detail the various incidental rights and duties appertaining to the relation of lord and tenant as they existed in Glanvill's time.

1 See above, p. 36.

2 The technical expression for the judgment of a court, which begins 'Therefore it is considered,' &c.

Lib. ix. c. 4. Mutua quidem debet esse dominii et homagii fidelitatis connexio, ita quod quantum homo debet domino ex homagio, tantum illi debet dominus ex dominio praeter solam reverentiam. Unde si aliquis alicui donaverit aliquod tenementum pro servitio et homagio suo, quod postea alius versus eum diracionaverit, tenebitur quidem dominus tenementum id ei warrantizare 1 vel competens escambium ei reddere. Secus est

1 The doctrine of warranty was based upon one of the most primitive of the rules of early Teutonic law. When a person had been wrongfully deprived of a portion of his property-a slave, a horse, or an ox-and found it in the possession of another, the true owner could of course claim that which was his own. If the person having the thing in his possession had bought it from a third person, he could vouch the third person to warranty, that is, call upon him to defend the title to the chattel, and, if the superior title were established, to make recompense to the evicted possessor. If the warranty was not accepted, the person vouching to warranty must establish that he purchased from the person vouched (and for this purpose the Anglo-Saxon laws contain elaborate provisions as to the necessity of a purchaser providing witnesses of the purchase), and the identity of the thing purchased with that claimed. (See Laws of Hlothaere and Edric, 7, 16, Thorpe, Ancient Laws and Institutes, fol. ed., pp. 13, 14; Laws of Ine, 75, Thorpe, p. 65.) The person vouched to warranty might in his turn vouch a second person, and the second vouchee a third, but no further vouching was permitted. (See Leg. Long. lib. 2. tit. 28. 1. 5, Canciani, i. p. 232; Laws of Ethelred, 8, 9, Thorpe, p. 123.) Upon the acceptance of the warrantor the suit as to the title to the chattel proceeded between the claimant and the warrantor, and if the claimant was successful he recovered the chattel, and the warrantor was bound to recom. pense his vendee. If at the time of the claim the vouchee were dead, the possessor of the thing claimed could 'vouch the tomb' of the vendor, and follow his property wherever it were for the purpose of obtaining a recompense. (Laws of Ine, 53, Thorpe, 59; and see Alfred and Guthrum's Peace, art. 4, ib. p. 67; Laws of King Edward, ib. p. 68; and see the form of oath to be taken by the claimant and the innocent purchaser, ib. p. 76.) In the development of the English law of land the doctrine of warranty was applied mainly to the obligation on the part of the donor of land and his heirs to defend the obligation of the donee and his heirs. The primitive rules of law formed the basis of doctrines of the greatest complication and technicality, which, as will be seen later, received a most important practical application in affording facilities for the conversion of an estate 'tail' into an estate in fee simple. See below, Chap. V. § 2.