The essential principle of socagetenure is rent in lieu of services.
He defines free socage as the tenure of a tenement, whereof the service is rendered in money to the chief lords, and nothing whatever is paid, "ad scutum et servitium regis.
It empowered persons possessed of land in free socage to give or devise same for the maintenance of the poor.
Persons holding land of others than the king by knight's service, and also holding socage lands, may devise two third parts of the former and the whole of the latter, saving to the lord his wardship of the third part.
Otherwise, if a man who held his land in socage [owned it freely and not subject to a larger landholder] died before his wife, she got half this property.
The socage land of a free sokeman goes by its ancient custom before the Norman Conquest.
The Law - A person having land in socage or fee simple may will and devise his land by will or testament in writing.
And so in our inquiry as to the characteristic traits of socage generally we may start from the ancient demesne.
A payment of this kind was exacted sometimes from free men in villainage, and even from socage tenants.
I have noticed several times that ancient demesne socage was connected in principle with the condition of things in Saxon times, immediately before the Conquest.
In the history of socage and military tenure the system of unity arose gradually, and without any sudden break, out of the system of division.
Now this seems strange at first sight, because the usual and settled terminology treats villain socage as a peculiarity of ancient demesne.
The socage tenure has had a very curious terminological history.
The very fact of copyhold thus gaining on villain socage may have pushed this last on towards freehold.
Very great men occasionally held land in free socage (per liberum socagium); they even held of the King in chief by free socage, and the tenure had many advantages, since it was free from the burdensome incidents of wardship and marriage.
In the Stoneleigh Register the peculiar nature of socage in ancient demesne is described fully and clearly.
He took care that all socage service should be duly rendered, or that money, which went towards paying for tools and materials, should be paid in lieu of it.
The money paid in lieu of socage service, which ought to be applied to the wants of the province in which the socage is due, is forwarded to Manila.
To this day the chiefs of Barangay, with the exception of those bearing the title of "Don," have no privileges save exemption from the poll-tax and socage service.
In 1653 those living in Crown forest land were given free socage in that land.
It was granted to Lord Baltimore to hold in free socage and was named after Charles' wife, who was Catholic.
It is a perplexing question whether freeholders in socage were liable to contribute towards the wages of knights; and authorities might be produced on both sides.
It was granted to Lord Baltimore to hold in free socage and was named after King James II's Queen, who was overtly Catholic.
The principal peculiarities which distinguish socagelands subject to the custom of gavelkind from free or common socage are--1.
This Act provided that all lands should "be held in free and common socage according to the tenure of East Greenwich in England.
Herr," and re-established thesocage dues abolished by Jerome.
