All Topics  
Socage

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Socage
 
 
  Topics Socage Topic Home

Socage was one of the feudal duties and hence land tenure
Land tenure

Land tenure is the name given, particularly in common law systems, to the legal regime in which land is owned by an individual, who is said to "hold" the land....
 forms in the feudal system
Feudalism

Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period , in its most classic sense refers to a Middle Ages European political system composed of a set of reciprocal law and military obligations among the warrior nobility, revolving around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs....
. A farmer, for example, held the land in exchange for a clearly-defined, fixed payment to be made at specified intervals to his feudal lord, who in turn had his own feudal obligations, to the farmer and to the Crown. In theory this might involve supplying the lord with produce but most usually it meant a straightforward payment of cash, i.e., rent
Renting

Renting is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good or property owned by another person or company. The owner of the property may be referred to as the lessor and the party paying to use the property as the lessee or renter....
.

In this respect it contrasted with other forms of tenure including serjeanty
Serjeanty

Tenure by serjeanty was a form of land-holding in Medieval England under the feudal system, intermediate between Land tenure by knight-service and tenure in socage....
 (the farmer paid no rent but had to perform some personal/official service on behalf of his lord, including in times of war) and frankalmoin
Frankalmoin

Frankalmoin was one of the feudal duties and hence land tenures in feudal Kingdom of England. By it an ecclesiastical body held land in return for saying prayers and masses for the soul of the granter....
 (some form of religious service).






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Socage'
Start a new discussion about 'Socage'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Socage was one of the feudal duties and hence land tenure
Land tenure

Land tenure is the name given, particularly in common law systems, to the legal regime in which land is owned by an individual, who is said to "hold" the land....
 forms in the feudal system
Feudalism

Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period , in its most classic sense refers to a Middle Ages European political system composed of a set of reciprocal law and military obligations among the warrior nobility, revolving around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs....
. A farmer, for example, held the land in exchange for a clearly-defined, fixed payment to be made at specified intervals to his feudal lord, who in turn had his own feudal obligations, to the farmer and to the Crown. In theory this might involve supplying the lord with produce but most usually it meant a straightforward payment of cash, i.e., rent
Renting

Renting is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good or property owned by another person or company. The owner of the property may be referred to as the lessor and the party paying to use the property as the lessee or renter....
.

In this respect it contrasted with other forms of tenure including serjeanty
Serjeanty

Tenure by serjeanty was a form of land-holding in Medieval England under the feudal system, intermediate between Land tenure by knight-service and tenure in socage....
 (the farmer paid no rent but had to perform some personal/official service on behalf of his lord, including in times of war) and frankalmoin
Frankalmoin

Frankalmoin was one of the feudal duties and hence land tenures in feudal Kingdom of England. By it an ecclesiastical body held land in return for saying prayers and masses for the soul of the granter....
 (some form of religious service). For those higher up the feudal pyramid, there was also knight-service
Knight-service

Knight-service was the dominant and distinctive tenure of land as a fief associated with a knight under the English feudal system....
 (military service) as a condition of land tenure.

The English statute Quia Emptores
Quia Emptores

Quia Emptores was a statute passed in 1290 by Edward I of England of Kingdom of England that prevented tenants from alienating their lands to others by subinfeudation....
 of Edward I
Edward I of England

Edward I , popularly known as Longshanks, the English Justinian, and the Hammer of the Scots , was a House of Plantagenet King of England who achieved historical fame by conquering large parts of Wales and almost succeeding in doing the same to Scotland....
 (1290) established that socage tenure passed automatically from one generation to the next (unlike leases). As feudalism declined, socage tenure increased until it became the normal form of tenure in the Kingdom of England
Kingdom of England

The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a state in North-West Europe. The Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and a number of smaller outlying islands?what is today the legal unit of England and Wales....
. In 1660, the Statute of Tenures ended the remaining forms of military service and all free tenures were converted into socage.

The holder of a soc or socage tenure was referred to as a socager (Anglo-Norman) or socman (Anglo-Saxon).

See also

  • Soke (legal)
    Soke (legal)

    The term soke , at the time of the Norman Conquest of England generally denoted "jurisdiction", but due to vague usage probably lacks a single precise definition....
  • Quia Emptores
    Quia Emptores

    Quia Emptores was a statute passed in 1290 by Edward I of England of Kingdom of England that prevented tenants from alienating their lands to others by subinfeudation....
  • History of English land law
    History of English land law

    The history of English land law derives from a mixture of Roman, Norman and modern legislative sources.Such terms as "fee" or "homage" carry us back into feudal times....


External links