SOCAGE

socage

(noun) land tenure by agricultural service or payment of rent; not burdened with military service

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

socage (countable and uncountable, plural socages)

(historical) In the Middle Ages (and chiefly but not exclusively medieval England), a legal system whereby a tenant would pay a rent or do some agricultural work for the landlord.

Source: Wiktionary

Soc"age, n.Etym: [From Soc; cf. LL. socagium.] (O.Eng. Law)

Definition: A tenure of lands and tenements by a certain or determinate service; a tenure distinct from chivalry or knight's service, in which the obligations were uncertain. The service must be certain, in order to be denominated socage, as to hold by fealty and twenty shillings rent. [Written also soccage.]

Note: Socage is of two kinds; free socage, where the services are not only certain, but honorable; and villein socage, where the services, though certain, are of a baser nature. Blackstone.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition