Law Dictionary

feud

Latin fides, faith; and Teut. ead, odh, or od, property, estate in land, - or, vieh, cattle, property; i.e., land held on pecuniary consideration: A.S. feah, cattle. Land held of a superior, on condition of rendering him service. Opposed to allodium, the absolute or ultimate property, which continued to reside in the superior. See Allodial. A tract of land held by a voluntary and gratuitous donation, on condition of fidelity and certain services. Wallace v. Harmstad, The constitution of feuds originated in the military policy of the Celtic nations, a policy which was continued in their acquisitions after the fall of the Roman empire. To secure those acquisitions, large districts of land were allotted by the conquering general to his superior officers, and by them, in smaller parcels, to the inferior officers and most deserving soldiers. These allottments were called feods, feoda, feoffs, feus, fiefs, fieus, and fees - conditional stipends or rewards. The condition annexed was, that the possessor should do service faithfully, at home and in war, to him by whom they were given; for which purpose he took the oath of fealty, and for a breach of this condition and oath, by not performing the stipulated service or by deserting the lord in battle, the lands were to revert to him who granted them.

Source : William C. Anderson, A Dictionary of Law (1893)

Language : English

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