Heriot
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
In English law
A customary tribute of goods and chattels, payable to the lord of the fee on the decease of the owner of the land. Heriot service is such as is due upon a special reservation in the grant or lease of lands, and therefore amounts to little more than a mere rent. Heriot custom arises upon no special reservation whatsoever, but depends merely upon immemorial usage and custom.
See 2 Bl. Comm. 97, 422; Comyn, Dig. "Copyhold" (K. 18); Bac. Abr.; 2 Saund.; 1 Vern. 441.