Fief

Fr. [from Sax. feoh; L. Lat. feudum^ In feudal law. An estate in land held of a superior by service. The same with the English yv«, and Scotch /eu. See Feudum, Fee.

An estate in land

held under the charge of fealty, homage, and military service.

Pothier Traits des Fiefs, part 1, c. prelim, sec. 1, 3.

See Esprit des Lois, lib.

30, c. 16, 17, et passim.

Fief rarely occurs in old English law, though it is found in the Mirror, together with the derivative./^^toitan^, (q. V.) Mirr, c.

1, § 16, 17.

Fieu and fi.ew, (qq. v.) occur in the books as old forms of this word; and it is perhaps not assuming too much to suppose that the final /in fief was originally an u; the convertibility of u into /, being apparent in other instances. See Farley, Lieutenant. This supposition is aided by the fact that the French term for an allodial estate is a word also ending in eu; aleu. See Alleu. It shows, moreover at once, the derivation from the primitive Saxon feoh: fim being the same sound in other letters. The great antiquity and exprea< siveness of this French term have led to its introduction into modern English law, and it is accordingly freely used by the best English writers to denote a feudal grant or estate.

2 Bl. Com, 45. 1 Steph. Com, 218. 3 Kent's Com. 494, 496.