Search Result for "fine for alienation":

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Fine \Fine\ (f[imac]n), n. [OE. fin, L. finis end, also in LL., a final agreement or concord between the lord and his vassal; a sum of money paid at the end, so as to make an end of a transaction, suit, or prosecution; mulct; penalty; cf. OF. fin end, settlement, F. fin end. See Finish, and cf. Finance.] 1. End; conclusion; termination; extinction. [Obs.] "To see their fatal fine." --Spenser. [1913 Webster] Is this the fine of his fines? --Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. A sum of money paid as the settlement of a claim, or by way of terminating a matter in dispute; especially, a payment of money imposed upon a party as a punishment for an offense; a mulct. [1913 Webster] 3. (Law) (a) (Feudal Law) A final agreement concerning lands or rents between persons, as the lord and his vassal. --Spelman. (b) (Eng. Law) A sum of money or price paid for obtaining a benefit, favor, or privilege, as for admission to a copyhold, or for obtaining or renewing a lease. [1913 Webster] Fine for alienation (Feudal Law), a sum of money paid to the lord by a tenant whenever he had occasion to make over his land to another. --Burrill. Fine of lands, a species of conveyance in the form of a fictitious suit compromised or terminated by the acknowledgment of the previous owner that such land was the right of the other party. --Burrill. See Concord, n., 4. In fine, in conclusion; by way of termination or summing up. [1913 Webster]
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

FINE FOR ALIENATION. During the vigor of the feudal law, a fine for alienation was a sum of money which a tenant by knight's service paid to his lord for permission to alienate his right in the estate he held, to another, and by that means to substitute a new tenant for himself. 2 Bl. Com. 71, But when the tenant held land of the king, in capite, by socage tenure, he was bound to pay such a fine, as well as in the case of knight service. 2 Bl. Com. 89. These fines are now abolished. In France, a similar demand from the tenant, made by the lord when the former alienated his estate, was called lods et vente. This imposition was abolished, with nearly every feudal right, by the French revolution.