Feudum

Lat. [from Sax. feok, a stipend.] A fief, fee or feud, as it is sometimes translated. Feudum est jus inprmdio alienoin perpetuum utendi fruetidi; quod pro beneficio dofninus dat ea lege, ut qui accipit sibi fdem et militia mumis aliudve servitium exfubeat; a fief is a right of perpetual enjoyment in another's land, which the owner grants out of favor, upon condition that he who receives it shall render to him fealty, and military and other service. Spelman, yoc. Feodum, citing Cvjacius ad Lib. Feud, tit.

1.

It is properly not the land itself, but a right in land; (jus in prcedio,) Id, Feudum antiquum; an ancient feud or fief; a fief descended to the vassal from his ancestors.

2 Bl, Com. 212, 221.

A fief which ancestors had possessed for more than four generations. Spelmauy voc. Feodum, Feudum aperium; an open feud or fief; a fief resulting back to the lord, where the blood of the person last seised was utterly extinct and gone.

2 Bl. Com. 245.

Feudum francum; a free or frank fief or fee.

Spelman.

Feudum improprium; an improper or derivative feud or fief.

2 Bl. Com. 68.

Feudum iudividuum', an indivisible or impartible feud or fief; descendible to the eldest son alone.

2 Bl. Com, 215.

Feudum ligium; a liege feud or fief; a fief held immediately of the sovereign; one for which the vassal owed fealty to his lord against all persons.

1 BL Com, 867.

Spelman, Feudum matemum; a maternal fief; a fief descended to the feudatory from his mother.

2 Bl, Com. 212.

Feudum novum; a new feud, or fief; a fief which began in the person of the feudatory, and did not come to him by succession.

Spelmxin, 2 Bl. Com, 2\2.

Feudum novum ut antiquum; a new fief held as an ancient one, or with all the qualities annexed to a fief descended from ancestors.

2 Bl, Com, 212. 1 Steph. Com, 384.

Feudum patemum; a paternal feud, or fief; a fief descendible only to the heirs by the father*s side.

2 Bl. Com, 243.

Feudum proprium; a proper, genuine and original feud or fief; being of a purely military character and held by military service.

2 Bl. Com, 57, 58.

Feudum talliatum; a mutilated or truncated fief, or inheritance, from which the heirs general were out off. Craig Jus. Feud, lib.

1, tit. 10, s. 24, 26. 2 BL Com. 112, note (m).

Hence the English fee tail, (q. v.) Feudum is the word generally used in the feudal law of the continent of Europe, to denote a feudal estate, as feodum is peculiar to the law gf England. It does not, however, seem to have been applied to these estates until they had become hereditary, (when it was substituted in place of benejicium,) and hence the meaning of an estate of inheritance which has always been attached to it, and the words feodum and fee in English law. See Fee, Feodum, Benejicium, According to Muratori, it does not occur in any charter previous to the eleventh century.

1 Murat, Antiq. Med. ^vi, 594.

Dr. Robertson observes that a charter of King Robert of France, A. D. 1008, was the earliest deed in which he had met with it.

1 Rob, Charles V. Appendix, Note viii.

Spelman, (voc. Feodum,) remarks that it does not occur in the ancient laws of Lombardy.