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socage

or soc·cage

[sok-ij]
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noun Medieval English Law.
  1. a tenure of land held by the tenant in performance of specified services or by payment of rent, and not requiring military service.

Origin of socage

1275–1325; Middle English sokage < Anglo-French socage, equivalent to soc soke + -age -age
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for socage

Historical Examples

  • New conditions of holding superior to that of "socage" were introduced.

    The Danes in Lancashire and Yorkshire

    S. W. Partington

  • A third part he divided among husbandmen, to hold of him in socage.

  • But did any hold of the king in socage, except on his demesne lands?

  • It is a stepping-stone from villainage to socage, or rather to socman's tenure.

    Villainage in England

    Paul Vinogradoff

  • It speaks of three species of socage—free, ancient demesne, and base.

    Villainage in England

    Paul Vinogradoff

British Dictionary definitions for socage

socage

noun
  1. English legal history the tenure of land by certain services, esp of an agricultural nature
  2. English law the freehold tenure of land
Derived Formssocager, noun

Word Origin

C14: from Anglo-French, from soc soke
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012