socage

or soc·cage

[ sok-ij ]

/ ˈsɒk ɪdʒ /

noun Medieval English Law.

a tenure of land held by the tenant in performance of specified services or by payment of rent, and not requiring military service.

Nearby words

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for socage

Thus, relief and heriot will still be paid for land in socage.
Our Legal Heritage, 5th Ed.|S. A. Reilly
Freehold appeared as chartered land (book-land),198 while socage was in truth copyhold secured by communal custom.
Villainage in England|Paul Vinogradoff
He had just got to the bit about Raptu Haeredis, which—as of course you know, is a writ for taking away an heir holding in socage.
The Girl on the Boat|Pelham Grenville Wodehouse
It is more correctly described as socage tenure, subject to the custom of gavelkind.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 5|Various

Soc′ager, Soc′man, a tenant by socage; Soc′manry, tenure by socage.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements)|Various

British Dictionary definitions for socage

socage

/ (ˈsɒkɪdʒ) /

noun

English legal history the tenure of land by certain services, esp of an agricultural nature

English law the freehold tenure of land

Derived Formssocager, noun

Word Origin for socage

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