Tenure

I. fr. and eng. A manner of holding; the mode of holding a feudal estate. In the law of England, the principle of tenure is still retained, it being a fundamental maxim that all the land in the kingdom is held, mediately or immediately, of the sovereign; but in the United Statps, while government is considered the source of all titles, and while the idea of tenure more or less pervades the real proi> erty law of the country, the principle of tenure, in the proper feudal sense, seems not to obtain, tenants in fee being to all intents and purposes the absolute owners of their estatea v. Allodial; Burgage tenure; Freehold; Grand serjeanty; Knight-service; Petty serjeanty; Socage; Villeinage. Tenure est la maniere par quoy les tene-