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socage

American  
[sok-ij] / ˈsɒk ɪdʒ /
Or soccage

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.


socage British  
/ ˈsɒkɪdʒ /

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

"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

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of socage

1275–1325; Middle English sokage < Anglo-French socage, equivalent to soc soke + -age -age

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Burgage, bur′gāj, n. a tenure in socage for a yearly rent: a tenure in Scotland in royal burghs under nominal service of watching.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

A payment of this kind was exacted sometimes from free men in villainage, and even from socage tenants.

From Villainage in England Essays in English Mediaeval History by Vinogradoff, Paul

The very fact of copyhold thus gaining on villain socage may have pushed this last on towards freehold.

From Villainage in England Essays in English Mediaeval History by Vinogradoff, Paul

Aristocratic Denmark, before the peasant war of 1255-1258, subjected the free peasantry who had been leaseholders for a term of years to unlimited socage duty.

From Principles Of Political Economy by Lalor, John J. (John Joseph)

By these drastic means the government kept the Eastern Townships a wilderness until after 1791, when the townships were granted out in free and common socage, and American settlers began to flock in.

From The United Empire Loyalists : A Chronicle of the Great Migration by Wallace, W. Stewart (William Stewart)

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