Farm

Feartne, Ferm, Firm. [L. Lat. firma; L. Fr. fermt; from Sax. fearme, feomiet food or provisions.] In English law. The rent of land held under lease, anciently reserved and paid in provisions, (i» eduliis.) Spelman^ yoc. Firma, Cowell, voc.

Ferme. 2 Bl. Com, 318. Gilbert on Bents, 2.

Called by Spelman reditus annonaritis. See Fearme, Feorme, Firma, Reditus, Rent, Rent reserved on a lease of land, payable in money; (L. Lat. reditus pecuniarius; Fr. fermage,) Spelman, voc.

Firma, 2 £L Com, 318.

Dyer, C. J., and Brown, J., Plowd. 195. " If it shall happen that the said annual rent and farm of £37 Ss. 4d, or any part thereof, be in arrear and unpaid."

Fhwd, 131.

Called blanche firms, or fearme, white farm, or white rent, {alba firma, firma blanca,) to distinguish it from rent paid in provisions.

Spelman, ub, sup, 2 Bl. Com, 42.

See Alba firma, Blanche ferme, A term in lands; that is, an estate granted for a definite period, as for life or years, (usually for years,) on payment of a rent; a lease of land; the estate or interest of a lessee; a leasehold interest in lands. Anciently written ferm, (L. Lat. firma,) In this sense, the word (firma) is constantly employed by Bracton. " To let for a ferm or farm," {ad firmam.) Bract, fol. 12 b. "For (to) farm, or for life": {ad firmam, velad vitam,) Id, fol. 41. "He let to (for Si) farm for a term of years;" {dimisit ad firmam ad terminum annorum\) Id, fol. 59. " Saving to the lessee (fermer or farmer,) his/arm and term"; {salvo firmario firma et termino suo.) Id. fol.

166 b. 1 Reeves* Hist, E, Law, 301, note.

Ferms and fermors are used in the statute of Marlbridge, c.

23, s.

2. in the sense of terms and lessees, 2 Inst, 145.

Doct, d Stud, 233, 234.

The old action of tjectione firma ^ was for ejecting one from his/i?rm or farm, that is, his term. See Ejections firm€s. Hence the expression "to let tofarm,^^ that is, for a term. See To farm let, Firma, This has continued to be the proper technical meaning of the word farm in English law, viz.: a term, a lease or leasehold estate; that which is held by a person standing in the relation of tenant to a landlord.

Sro, Abr, Grants, 135. 2 Chitty's Bl. Com, 17, note. 6 Term R, 353. 1 Crah Vs Real Prop. 69, § 87.

Land itself, let and held for a term on payment of rent, {ipsum presdium elocatum,) 2 BL Com. 318. Spelman, voc.

Firma, Grilb, Rents, 2.

A capital or chief messuage in a vill or town

with great demesnes belonging to it, that has been let or demised to another for life, for years or at will.

Dyer, C. J., Plov>d, 195.

Termes de la ley.

Cowell,

In more modem language

a large tract or portion of land taken by a lease under a yearly rent, payable by the tenant. Tomlins, In this sense, ^rm is a collective word, consisting of many things, as a messuage, lands, meadows, pastures, woods, and other things appertaining thereto. Id, Plowd, ub, sup. Hence the common or popular significations of the term, now prevalent in England and America, — a tract of land, with suitable buildings, Ac, taken, or hired for a certain term, at a certain rent, for the purposes of cultivation; — a tract of land, occupied in tillage, or used for cultivation, whether held of another, or owned by the occupant; — ^a tract of land, devoted to other purposes than cultivation, as to the raising of stock, (fee. By the name offarme or ferm, in this sense of a tract of land, houses, lands and tenements might formerly pass; though this is not now its technical meaning in English law. Co, Litt, 5 a. See 1 Crabb's Real Prop, 69, § 87, cited supra. In wills, the word is still construed according to its popular signification. 2 Powell on Devises, (by Jarman,) 191. 1 Jarman on Wills, 713, (609, Perkins* ed.) et seq. In American law, farm denotes a tract of land devoted in part, at least, to cultivation, without reference to its extent, or to the tenure by which it is held. 2 Binney's R. 238. As to what passes by the word farm, see 5 Pick, jB. 512. 18 Id, 553. 0 Metcalfs R, 529. 4 Qreen Uafs R, 14. 2 Billiard*s Real Prop, 338, 343, 345.

In old English law

Any other thing than land, wnich is held in lease.

Dyer, C. J., Plowd. 195.

The present meaning of the word farm is very properly termed by Sir Wm. Blackstone, the result of " a gradual departure from the original sense;" its successive gradations of meaning appearing from the definitions above given, viz.; provisions, — rent paid in provisions, — rent paid in money, or generally, — a term in lands, held on rent, — ^iand itself, held for a term and rent,-— land held or hired for a term, for cultivation,— any land used for cultivation, whether hired or owned. By this process, the idea of cultivation has become the prominent one in the modern acceptation of the term; so much so, indeed, as to have given rise to the modem words now in common use; "to farm,*' to cultivate land; ^' farming,*' the business of cultivation. In England, however, the ideas of a lease, a term, and a rent, continue to be in a great degree inseparable even from the popular meaning of A farm, as they arc entirely so from the legal sense. The ordinary expression " to farm out," is an instance of the perpetuation of the same meaning. That rents were originally and generally reserved and paid in provisions, (feorme,) is very clearly shown by Spelman from the Black Book of the exchequer, Domesday Book, and other ancient sources. The gradations of meaning from this primitive one (already noticed,) do not, however, seem to have followed in the order of time. Ferm (firma) was used in the sense of land Uased Xj a chronicler of the time of William Rufus, A. D. 1089. Spelman, voc. Firma, The same word (firma) occurs in the sense of a lease of land, in the early historian Ingulphus. Id. ibid. And even the Saxon feorme was used in Saxon times to denote a manor. LL, Aluredi, c. 2, cited ibid. Farm, or ferm, has been derived by some from the Lat. firmus, firm, or fixed; as denoting a fixed rent, or term. Lib, Nig. Scacc, cited in Spelman, Cowell, voc. Fenne, Mr. Reeves inclmes to derive it from the Ital. /e?rmo, a bargain or contract.

1 Reeves' Hist, Eng, Law, 301, note.

It is clearly, however, the Saxon word fearme OT feorme, (provisions,) with a slight change in the letters. Spelman, voc. Firma, See Fearme,