Fief

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Fief \Fief\, n. [F. fief; of German origin, and the same word as
     E. fee. See {Fee}, and cf. {Feud}, a tief.] (Law)
     An estate held of a superior on condition of military
     service; a fee; a feud. See under {Benefice}, n., 2.
     [1913 Webster]



From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  fief
       n : a piece of land held under the feudal system [syn: {feoff}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  24 Moby Thesaurus words for "fief":
     copyhold, equitable estate, estate at sufferance, estate for life,
     estate for years, estate in expectancy, estate in fee,
     estate in possession, estate tail, fee, fee simple, fee tail, feod,
     feodum, feud, feudal estate, lease, leasehold, legal estate,
     paramount estate, particular estate, remainder, reversion,
     vested estate
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  FIEF, or FEUD. In its origin, a fief was a district of country allotted to 
  one of the chiefs who invaded the Roman empire, as a stipend or reward; with 
  a condition annexed that the possessor should do service faithfully both at 
  home and in the wars, to him by whom it was given. The law of fiefs supposed 
  that originally all lands belonged to lords, who had had the generosity to 
  abandon them to others, from whom the actual possessors derive their rights 
  upon the sole reservation of certain services more or less onerous as a sign 
  of superiority. To this superiority was added that which gives the right of 
  dispensing justice, a right which was originally attached to all fiefs, and 
  conferred upon those who possessed it, the most eminent part of public 
  power. Henrion de Pansey, Pouvoir, Municipal; 2 Bl. Com. 45 
  Encyclopedie, h.t.; Merl. Rep. h.t.