Feudal system

The system of feuds. A political and social system wnich prevailed throughout Europe during the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth cenfuries, 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 developed by the exigencies of their military domination, and possibly furthered by notions taken from the Roman jurisprudence. It was introduced into England, in its completeness, 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 survivals of the system, in modem days, so modify and color that branch of jurisprudence, both in England and America, that many of its principles require for their complete understanding a knowledge of the feudal 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 determined by the bond established by a grant of land from the former to the latter. From this it grew into a complete and intricate complex of rules for the tenure and transmission of real estate, and of correlated duties and services ; while, by tying men -to the land and to those holding above and below them, it created a close-knit hierarchy of persons, and developed an aggregate of social and political institutions. For an account of the feudal system in its juristic relations, see 2 Bl. Comm. 44; 1 Steph. Comm. I6o; 3 Kent, Comm. 487; Spel. Feuds; Litt. Ten.; Sull. Leet.; Spence, Eq. Jur.; 1 Washb. Real Prop. 15; Dalr. Feu. Prop. For its political and social relations, see Hall. Middle Ages; Maine, Anc. Law; Rob. Car. V.; Montesq. Esprit des Lois, bk. 30; Guizot, Hist. Civilization.

Defined under Feudal in Black's Law Dictionary.

The system of feuds or fiefs; that is, estates in land held of a superior by the tenure of service. A system of tenure, the origin of which is generally traced to the peculiar policy and usages of the northern nations who overturned the Roman empire, and settled in its provinces; and which from rude beginnings grew up gradually into a vast body of institutions, which prevailed throughout Europe for many centuries, and has left important traces of its existence not only in that continent, but in America. The nature and history of this system have been so often discussed that it will be sufficient to refer to the leading authorities on the subject. 2 BL Com, 44, chap. iv. 1 Steph, Com, 160, et seq, 3 Kent's Com, 487, lect. liii. Spelman, voc. Feodum, 1 Robertson's Charles V. 10, 12 and Appendix, note viii. Esprit des Loix, liv. 30. 1 Hallam's Middle Ages, 80, et seq. Mr. Spence's theory is, that the sources of the feudal system are to be found in the rela^ tion of patron and client in the Roman provinces, and in the distinction between dominium directum and dominium utile in the Roman law. 1 Spence's Chancery, 28, et seq,