not be demanded till the heir was fifteen years old, or capable of bearing arms: the intention of it being to breed up the eldest fon and heir apparent of the fcignory, to deeds of arms and chivalry, for the better defence of the nation. Thirdly, to marry the lord's eldest daughter, by giving her a fuitable portion: for daughter's portions were in those days extremely flender; few lords being able to fave much out of [64] their income for this purpose; nor could they acquire money by other means, being wholly converfant in matters of arms: nor, by the nature of their tenure, could they charge their lands with this, or any other incumbrances. From bearing their proportion to these aids no rank or profeffion was exempted and therefore even the monafteries, till the time of their diffolution, contributed to the knighting of their founder's male heir (of whom their lands were holden) and the marriage of his female defcendants'. And one cannot but obferve, in this particular, the great refemblance which the lord and vafal of the feodal law bore to the patron and client of the Roman republic; between whom also there fubfifted a mutual fealty, or engagement of defence and protection. For, with regard to the matter of aids, there were three which were usually raised by the client; viz. to marry the patron's daughter; to pay his debts; and to redeem his perfon from captivity '. BUT befides thefe antient feodal aids, the tyranny of lords by degrees exacted more and more; as, aids to pay the lord's debts, (probably in imitation of the Romans,) and aids to enable him to pay aids or reliefs to his fuperior lord; from which last indeed the king's tenants in capite were, from the nature of their tenure, excufed, as they held immediately of the king, who had no fuperior. To prevent this abuse, king John's magna carta" ordained, that no aids be taken by the king without confent of parliament, nor in any wife by r2 Inft. 233. Philips's life of Pole I. 223. ↑ Erat autem baec inter utrofque efficiorum viciffitudo-ut clientes ad collocandas jenatorum filias de fuo conferrent ; in aeris alieni dilutionem gratuitam pecuniam cap. 12. 15. inferior BOOK II. inferior lords, fave only the three antient ones above-mentioned. But this provifion was omitted in Henry III's charter, and the fame oppreffions were continued till the 25 Edw. I, when the statute called confirmatio chartarum was enacted; which in this respect revived king John's charter, by ordaining that none but the antient aids fhould be taken. But though the fpecies of aids was thus reftrained, yet the quantity [65]of each aid remained arbitrary and uncertain. King John's charter indeed ordered, that all aids taken by inferior lords fhould be reasonable"; and that the aids taken by the king of his tenants in capite should be fettled by parliament *. But they were never completely ascertained and adjusted till the statute Weftm. 1. 3 Edw. I. c. 36. which fixed the aids of inferior lords at twenty fhillings, or the fuppofed twentieth part of the annual value of every knight's fee, for making the eleft fon a knight, or marrying the eldest daughter; and the fame was done with regard to the king's tenants in capite by ftatute 25 Edw. III. c. 11. The other aid, for ranfom of the lord's perfon, being not in it's nature capable of any certainty, was therefore never afcertained. 2. RELIEF, relevium, was before mentioned as incident to every feodal tenure, by way of fine or compofition with the lord for taking up the eftate, which was lapfed or fallen in by the death of the laft tenant. But, though reliefs had their original while feuds were only life-eftates, yet they continued after feuds became hereditary; and were therefore looked upon, very justly, as one of the greatest grievances of tenure: especially when, at the first, they were merely arbitrary and at the will of the lord; fo that, if he pleased to demand an exorbitant relief, it was in effect to difinherit the heir. The English ill brooked this confequence of their new adopted policy; and therefore William the conqueror by his laws afcertained the relief, by directing (in imitation of the Danish heriots) that a certain quantity of arms, and habiliments of war, fhould be paid by the earls, barons, and w cap. 15. x Ibid. 14. y Wright. 99. vavafours vavafours refpectively; and if the latter had no arms, they fhould pay 100s. William Rufus broke through this compofition, and again demanded arbitrary uncertain reliefs, as due by the feodal laws: thereby in effect obliging every heir to new-purchase or redeem his land: but his brother Henry I, by the charter before mentioned, restored his father's law; and ordained, that the relief to be paid fhould be according to the law so established, and not an arbitrary redemption. [ 66 But afterwards, when, by an ordinance in 27 Hen. II. called the affife of arms, it was provided that every man's armour fhould defcend to his heir, for defence of the realm; and thereby became impracticable to pay thefe acknowlegements in arms, according to the laws of the conqueror, the compofition was univerfally accepted of 100 s. for every knight's fee; as we find it ever after established. But it must be remembered, that this relief was only then payable, if the heir at the death of his ancestor had attained his full age of one and twenty years. 3. PRIMER feifin was a feodal burthen, 'only incident to the king's tenants in capite, and not to those who held of inferior or mefne lords. It was a right which the king had, when any of his tenants in capite died feifed of a knight's fee, to receive of the heir (provided he were of full age) one whole year's profits of the lands, if they were in immediate poffeffion; and half a year's profits, if the lands were in reverfion expectant on an eftate for life. This feems to be little more than an additional relief, but grounded upon this feodal reafon; that, by the antient law of feuds, immediately upon a death of a vafal the superior was entitled to enter and take seifin or poffeffion of the land, by way of protection against intruders, till the heir appeared to claim it, and receive inveftiture: during which interval the lord was entitled to take the profits; and, unless the heir claimed within a year and day, it was by the ftrict law a forfeiture. a 2 Roll. Abr. 514. bes Haeres non redimet terram fuam "ficut faciebat tempore fratris mei, fed legitima et jufta relevatione relevabit "eam." (Text. Roffens. cap. 34.) d Co. Litt. 77. e Feud. 1. 2. t. 24. This practice however feems not to have long obtained in England, if ever, with regard to tenure under inferior lords; but, as to the king's tenures in capite, the prima feifina was exprefsly declared, under Henry III and Edward II, to belong to the king by prerogative, in contradiftinction to other lords. The king was entitled to enter and receive the whole profits of the land, till livery was fued; which fuit [67] being commonly made within a year and day next after the death of the tenant, in purfuance of the ftrict feodal rule, therefore the king ufed to take as an average the firft fruits, that is to fay, one year's profits of the land. And this afterwards gave a handle to the popes, who claimed to be feodal lords of the church, to claim in like manner from every clergyman in England, the first year's profits of his benefice, by way of primitiae, or first fruits. 4. THESE payments were only due if the heir was of full age; but if he was under the age of twenty-one, being a male, or fourteen, being a female, the lord was entitled to the wardship of the heir, and was called the guardian in chivalry. This wardship confifted in having the cuftody of the body and lands of fuch heir, without any account of the profits, till the age of twenty one in males, and fixteen in females. For the law fuppofed the heir-male unable to perform knight-service till twenty-one: but as for the female, fhe was fuppofed capable at fourteen to marry, and then her hufband might perform the fervice. The lord therefore had no wardship, if at the death of the ancestor the heir-male was of the full age of twenty-one, or the heir female of fourteen: yet, if fhe was then under fourteen, and the lord once had her in ward, he might keep her fo till fixteen, by virtue of the ftatute of Westm. 1. 3 Edw. I. c. 22. the two additional years being given by the legislature for no other reafon but merely to benefit the lord. THIS wardship, fo far as it related to land, though it was not nor could be part of the law of feuds, fo long as they were h Litt. § 103. f Stat. Marlbr. c. 16. 17 Edw. II. c. 3. i Ibid. arbitrary, arbitrary, temporary, or for life only; yet, when they became hereditary, and did confequently often defcend upon infants, who by reafon of their age could neither perform nor ftipulate for the fervices of the feud, does not feem upon feodal principles to have been unreasonable. For the wardship of the land, or cuftody of the feud, was retained by the lord, that he might out of the profits thereof provide a fit person to fupply the infant's fervices, till he should be of age to perform them himself (2). And, if we confider the feud in it's [68] original import, as a ftipend, fee, or reward for actual service, it could not be thought hard that the lord fhould withhold the ftipend, fo long as the fervice was fufpended. Though undoubtedly to our English ancestors, where fuch a ftipendiary donation was a mere fuppofition or figment, it carried abundance of hardship; and accordingly it was relieved by the charter of Henry I. before mentioned, which took this cuftody from the lord, and ordained that the cuftody, both of the land and the children, fhould belong to the widow or next of kin. But this noble immunity did not continue many years. THE wardship of the body was a confequence of the wardfhip of the land; for he who enjoyed the infant's eftate was the propereft perfon to educate and maintain him in his infancy and alfo, in a political view, the lord was moft concerned to give his tenant fuitable education, in order to qualify him the better to perform thofe fervices which in his maturity he was bound to render. WHEN the male heir arrived to the age of twenty-one, or the heir-female to that of fixteen, they might fue out their (2) If an infant tenant by knight's fervice was created a knight, the king was no longer intitled to the wardship of his perfon, nor to the value of his marriage. Sir John Radcliff's cafe, Plov. 267: And the reafon there affigned, that "when he is made a knight "by the king, who is the chief captain of all chivalry, or by some "other great captain affigned by the king for that purpose, he is thereby allowed and admitted to be able to perform knight's "fervice; and then his body ought not to be in ward, because his "imbecility ceafes, and ceffante caufa, ceffabit effectus.", 9 livery |