Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

FESTING-PENNY

487

FEUDAL SYSTEM

the good behavior of another. Monasteries enjoyed the privilege of being "free from festing-men," which means that they were "not bound for any man's forthcoming who should transgress the law." Cowell. See FRANK-PLEDGE. FESTING-PENNY. Earnest given to servants when hired or retained. The same as arles-penny. Co well. FESTINUM REMEDIUM. Lat. A •peedy remedy. The writ of assise was thus characterized (in comparison with the less expeditious remedies previously available) by the statute of Westminster 2, (13 Edw. I. c. 24.) FESTUM. A feast or festival. itultorum, the feast of fools. Fes turn FETTERS. Chains or shackles for the feet; irons used to secure the legs of convicts, unruly prisoners, etc. Similar chains secur ing the wrists are called "handcuffs." FEU. In Scotch law. A holding or ten ure where the vassal, in place of military service, makes his return in grain or money. Distinguished from "wardholding," which is the military tenure of the country. Bell. FEU ANNUALS. In Scotchlaw. The reddendo, or annual return from the vassal to a superior in a feu holding. FEU ET LIEU. Fr. In old French and Canadian law. Health and home. A term importing actual settlement upon land by a tenant. FEU HOLDING, xn Scotch law. A holding by tenure of rendering grain or money in place of military service. Bell. FEUAR. In Scotch law. The tenant of a feu; a feu-vassal. Bell. FEUD. In feudal law. An estate in land held of a superior on condition of ren dering him services. 2 Bl. Comm. 105. An inheritable right to the use and occu pation of lands, held on condition of render ing services to the lord or proprietor, who himself retains the property in the lands. See Spel. Feuds, c. 1. In this sense the word is the same as "feod," "feodum," "feudum," "fief," or "fee." In Saxon and old German law. An enmity, or species of private war, existing between the family of a murdered man and the family of his slayer; a combination of

the former to take vengeance upon the latter. See DEADLY FEUD; FAIDA. FEUDA. Feuds or fees. FEUDAL. Pertaining to feuds or fees; relating to or growing out of the feudal sys tem or feudal law; having the quality of a feud, as distinguished from "allodial." FEUDAL ACTIONS. An ancient name for real actions, or such as concern real prop erty only. 8 Bl. Comm. 117. FEUDAL LAW. The body of jurispru dence relating to feuds; the real-property law of the feudal system; the law anciently reg ulating the property relations of lord and vas sal, and the creation, incidents, and tians mission of feudal estates. The body of laws and usages constituting the "feudal law" was originally customary and un written, but a compilation was made in the twelfth century, called "Feodarum Consuetudines," which has formed the basis of later digests. The feudal law prevailed over Europe from the twelfth to the fourteenth century, and was introduced into Eng land at the Norman Conquest, where it formed the entire basis of the law of real property until compar atively modern times. Survivals of the feudal law, to the present day, so affect and color that branch of jurisprudence as to require a certain knowledge of the feudal law in order to the perfect comprehen sion of modern tenures and rules of real-property law. FEUDAL POSSESSION. The equiva lent of "seisin" under the feudal system. F E U D A L SYSTEM. The system of feuds. A political and social system which prevailed throughout Europe during the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, and is supposed to have grown out of the peculiar usages and policy of the Teutonic nations who overran the continent after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, as de veloped by the exigencies of their military domination, and possibly furthered by no tions taken from the Roman jurisprudence. It was introduced into England, in its com pleteness, by William I., A. D. 1085, though it may have existed in a rudimentary form among the Saxons before the Conquest. It formed the entire basis of the real-property law of England in medieval times; and sur vivals of the system, in modern days, so modify and color that branch of jurispru dence, both in England and America, that many of its principles require for their com plete understanding a knowledge of the feud al system. The feudal system originated in the relations of a military chieftain and his followers, or king and nobles, or lord and vassals, and especially their relations as de~

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