reason of thus expressing the act will appear by considering that a year's rent is the relief for lands holden by common socage, and consequently is never due out of lands which are not subject to a rent, unless by special custom, or express reservation.-Hargrave's note, 55.

Co. LIT., 93, b. It may be proper to conclude this Chapter of Socage by pointing out the several changes made in the tenure of socage by the statute of the 12 Cha. 2, ch. 24, so often mentioned. 1. It takes away the aids pur file marrier and pur faire fitz chivalier, which were incident to all socage-tenures. 2. It relieves socage in capite from the burden of the king's primer seisin and of fines of alienation to the king; to both of which socage in capite was equally liable with tenure by knight's service in capite, though not so to wardship. 3. It extends the father's power of appointing guardians by deed or will, which by the 4 and 5 Phil. and Mar. (the first statute conferring such a power) was restricted to female children, to children of both sexes, and thus supplied the means of still further preventing guardianship in socage. In all other respects the tenure in socage seems to be under the same circumstances, and attended with the same consequences, as it was before the restoration. But the statute of Charles II. goes further than the mere alteration of socage; and having thus reformed and improved this favorite tenure, in the next place provides for the extension of it throughout the kingdom. This the statute effectually secures, by converting into socage all tenures by knight's service and by taking from the Crown the power of creating any other tenure than socage in future.—Hargrave's note, 95.

REAL PROP. COMRS., THIRD REP. (1833), 7. But though the ancient doctrine, that all land is held of a superior lord, ought in our opinion to remain, we consider the variety of tenures still subsisting an unqualified evil; and we think that everything should be done, which is consistent with the

rights of property, to reduce them all to one simple tenure, stripped of all local customs, and attended by the same rules, as to enjoyment and transmission. The tenures now subsisting are:

1. Frankalmoign, and by Divine Service.

2. Grand Serjeanty, as far as honble. services are concerned.

3. Free and Common Socage.

4. Socage, subject to the custom of Borough English. 5. Socage, subject to the custom of Gavel-kind.

6. Ancient Demesne.

7. Copyhold.

8. Customary Freehold.

Free and common socage is fortunately the tenure by which the great bulk of real property in England is now held. In the time of Lord Coke copyhold tenure was much more common than at present, and the land that was not of base tenure was principally held in chivalry. To the enfranchisement of copyholds and the abolition of military tenures may, we conceive, be ascribed some portion of the agricultural improvement and increase of public wealth which have since taken place; and we consider it a matter of great importance that all lay fees should be held by free and common socage.

This tenure has all the advantages of allodial ownership. The dominium utile vested in the tenant comprises the sole and undivided interest in the soil. Escheat is the only material incident of this tenure beneficial to the lord; and, while there is an heir or devisee, he can in no way interfere.

The tenant in fee simple of socage land can of his own authority create in it any estates and interests not contrary to the general rules of law; he can alien it entirely or devise it to whom he pleases, and the alienee or devisee takes directly from him, so that the title is complete without the concurrence or privity of the lord.

WILLIAMS, REAL PROP. (17TH ED.), 60-63. Since the

year 1645, therefore, the only free tenures existing have been the lay tenure of free and common socage and the spiritual tenure of frankalmoign. In modern times the incidents which mark the relation of lord and tenant of an estate in fee simple held in socage are of rare occurrence. Thus a rent is not now often paid in respect of the tenure of an estate in fee simple. When it is paid, it is usually called quit rent, and is almost always of a very trifling amount; the change in the value of money in modern times will account for this. The relief of one year's quit rent, payable by the heir on the death of his ancestor, in the case of a fixed quit rent, was not abolished by the statute of Charles, and such relief is accordingly still due. Suit of Court also is still obligatory on tenants of estates in fee simple, held of any manor now existing. And the oath of fealty still continues an incident of tenure; but in practice it is never exacted. There is, however, one incident of tenure still remaining, which is occasionally productive of substantial advantage to the lord. The lands of a tenant in fee simple remain liable to escheat to the lord of the fee on failure of the tenant's heirs. At the present day failure of heirs can only occur from natural causes, for an act of the year 1870 abolished all attainder, forfeiture or escheat upon judgment for treason or felony.1 When, therefore, a tenant in fee simple dies, without having alienated his lands in his lifetime or by his will (either of which will prevent escheat), and without leaving any blood relation to succeed him as his heir, such lands will fall in to the lord of whom they were held. Bastardy is the most usual cause of the failure of heirs; for a bastard is in law nullius filius; and, being nobody's son, he can consequently have no brother or sister, or any other heir than an heir of his body. If such a person, therefore, were to purchase lands, that is, to acquire an estate in fee simple in them, and were to die possessed of them without having made a will and without leaving any issue, the lands would escheat to the lord of the fee, for

1 Stat. 33 & 34 Vict., c. 23, s. I.

want of heirs. When an escheat occurs, the Crown most frequently obtains the lands escheated, in consequence of the before-mentioned rule, that the Crown is the lord paramount of all the lands in the kingdom. But if there should be any lord of a manor, or other person, who could prove that the estate so terminated was held of him, he, and not the Crown, would be entitled. In former times there were many such mesne or intermediate lords, as we have seen. But now the fruits and incidents of tenure of estates in fee simple are so few and rare that many such estates are considered as held directly of the Crown, for want of proof as to who is the intermediate lord; and the difficulty of proof is increased by the fact before mentioned, that, since the statute of Quia Emptores, passed in the reign of Edward I., it has not been lawful to create a tenure of an estate in fee simple; so that every lordship or seigniory of an estate in fee simple bears date at least as far back as that reign; to this rule the few seigniories which may have been subsequently created by the king's tenants in capite form the only exception.

A small occasional quit rent with its accompanying relief -suit of the Court Baron, if any such exists-an oath of fealty never exacted—and a right of escheat seldom accruing-are now, it appears, therefore, the ordinary incidents. of modern socage tenure. There are, however, a few varieties in this tenure which are worth mentioning. They arise in respect either of the terms on which the lands holden were originally granted, or the places where they are situate. As to the former case lands may still be holden by grand or petit serjeanty; for while by the Act of Charles II. grand serjeanty was, with the other military tenures, turned into socage and deprived of its burdensome incidents, its honorary services were expressly retained. And petit serjeanty, being but socage in effect, was not abolished by the statute.

CHAPTER IV.

COPYHOLD TENURE.

BRACTON, 36. Further a man may grant a tenement which he himself held by military service to be held in villenage by villein customs and services, provided that they are fixed and defined.

ID., 208. Further there is a species of tenement called a villein tenement: and the tenure of villein tenements is sometimes pure villenage, sometimes privileged villenage. Pure villenage is where land is held on such terms that the tenant in villenage, whether he be free or a serf, shall do for his villein tenement whatever be commanded him, and has no right to know at night what he will have to do on the morrow; and he shall always be bound to uncertain services. Further he is liable to be taxed at the will of the lord to any extent. Further he is bound to pay a fine for the privilege of giving his daughter in marriage, and thus he will always be bound without defined limits, provided that, if he be a free man, he performs these duties as an incident of his tenure, not of personal status; and he will not by right be bound to pay the fine on marriage of a daughter, for this is appropriate to the personal status of a villein, not of a free man. But if he be a villein, he is bound to do all things, however undefined, both as an incident of his holding as a villein and of his personal status, nor can a free man, if he hold in this way, retain the villein tenement against the will of the lord, nor can he himself be compelled to retain it unless he desires to do so. There is also a holding in villenage not of such a pure type, whether the grant be to a free man or to a villein, by means of a covenant to be held for fixed services and customs named and expressed in the deed,