Encyclopaedia Britannica; or, A dictionary of arts and sciences, compiled upon a new plan … > Volume 2, C-L

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gage feifins are ordained to be regiitered in the books of
the borough.
19. Unregiftred feifins are ineffe&ual againft third
parties, but they are valid againd the granters and their
heirs. Seifins regularly recorded, are preferable, not
according to their own dates, but the dates of their regi-
ftration.
20. Seifin neceirarlly fuppofes a fuperior by whom it
is given; the right therefore which the fovereign, who
acknowledges no fuperior, has over the whole lands of
Scotland, is conlHtuted, yr/re without feifin. In
feveral parcels of land, that lie contiguous to one ano¬
ther, one feifm ferves for all, unlefs the right of the fe¬
veral parcels be either holden of different fuperiors, or
derived from different authors, or enjoyed by different
tenures under the fame fuperior. In difeontiguous lands,
a feparate- feifin mud be taken on every parcel, unlefs
the fbvereign has united them into one tenandry, by a
charter of union; in which cafe, if there is no fpecial
place expreffed, a feifin taken on any part of the united
lands will ferve for the w'hole, even though they be fitua-
ted in different (hires. The only effetfl of union is, to give
the difeontiguous lands the fame quality as if they had
been contiguous, or naturally united ; union, therefore,
does not take off the neceflity of feparate feifins, in lands
holden by different tenures, or the rights of which flow
from different fuperiors, thefe being incapable of natural
union.
21. The privilege of barony carries a higher right
than union does, and confequently includes union in it
as the leffer degree. This right of bafony can neither
be given, nor tranfmitted, unlefs by the Crown ; but the
quality of fimple union, being once conferred on lands
by the fovereign, may be communicated by the vaffal to
a fubvaffal. Though part of the lands united or ereffed
into a barony, be fold by the vaffal to be holden a me,
the whole union is not thereby diffolvcd: what remains
unfold retains the quality.
22. A charter, not perfeffed by feifin, is a right
merely perfonal, which does not transfer the property, (fee
Tit. xx. 1.) and a feifin of itfelf bears no faith, without
its warrant: It is the charter and feifin joined together
that conftitutes the feudal right, and fecurcs the receiver
againft the effedt of all pofterior feifins, even though
the charters on which they proceed fliould be prior to his.
23. No quality which is defigned as a lien or real bur¬
den on a feudal right, can be effcdlual againft Angular
fucceffors, if it be not inferted in the inveftiture. If
the creditors in the burden are not particularly mention¬
ed, the burden is not real; for no perpetual unknown in¬
cumbrance can be created upon lands. Where the right
itfelf is granted with the burden of the fum therein men¬
tioned, or where it is declared void, if the fum be not
paid againft a day certain, the burden is real; but where
the receiver is (imply obliged by his acceptance to make
payment, the claufe is effedtual only againft him and his
heirs.
Tit. 11. Of the feveral kinds of Holding.
Feudai, fubjefls are chiefly diftinguifhed by their dif¬
ferent manners of holding, which were either ward,
blanch, feu, or burgage. Ward holding, which is now
abohlhed by 20. Geo. II. c. yo. was that which was
granted for military fervi ;e. Its proper reddendo was,
fervices, or fervices ufed and nuont; by which laft was
meant the performance of fervice whenever the fupe-
rior’s occafions required it. As all feudal rights were
originally held by this tenure, ward-holding was in du-
bio. Hence, though the reddendo had contained iome
fpecial fervice, or yearly duty, the holding was prefu¬
med ward, if another holding was not particularly ex¬
preffed.
2. Feu holding is that whereby the vaffal is obliged
to pay to the fuperior a yearly rent in money or grain, and
fometimes alfo in fervices proper to a farm, as plough¬
ing, reaping, carriages for the (uperior’s ufe, ebc. nomine
feudi fir nice. Thiskind of tenure was introduced for the
encouragement of agriculture, the improvsnient of which
was confiderably obftrufted by the vaifai’s obligation to
military fervice. It appears to have been a tenure known
in Scotland as far back as leges burgorum.
3. Blanch-holding is that whereby the vaffal is to
pay to the fuperior an elufory yearly duty, as a penny
money, a rofe, a pair of gilt fpurs, &c. merely m ac¬
knowledgment of the fuperiority, nomine alba firmce.
This duty, where it is a thing of yearly groc th, if it be
no: demanded u ithimthe year, cannot be exadled thereaf¬
ter ; and where the words, Ji petatur tantum, are fub-
joined to the reddendo, they imply a releafe to the vaffal,
whatever the quality of the duty may be, if it is not allied
within the year.
4 Burgage holding is that, by which boroughs-royal
hold of the fovereign the lands which are contained in
their charters of eredtion. This, in the opinion of Craig,
does not conftitute a feparate tenure, but is a (pecies of
ward-holding; with this fpeciality, that thevaffJ is not
a private perloni but a community : And indeed, watch¬
ing and warding, which is the uiual fervice contained in
the teddendool fuch chatters, might be properly enough
faid, fome centuries ago, to have been of the military
kind. ’ As the royal borough is the King’s vaffal, all
burgage-holders hold immediately of the Crown: The
magiltrates therefore, when they receive the refignations
of the particular burgeffes, and give feifin to them, aift,
not as f. periors, but as the King’s bailies fpecially autho-
rifed thereto.
y. Feudal fobjedts, granted to churches, monafteries, or
other focieties for religious or charitable ufes, are faid to
be mortified, or granted ad manummortiiam ; either be-
caufe all cafualtits muft neceffarily be loft to the fupe¬
rior, where the vaffal is a corporation, which never dies:
or becaufe the property of thefe fubjedls is granted to a
dead hand, which cannot transfer it to another. In lands
mortified in times of Popery to the church, whether
granted to prelates for the behoof of the church, or in
pur am eleemofynam; the only fervices preftable by the
vaflal were prayers, and finging of maffes for the fouls
of the deceafed, which approaches nearer to blanch-hold-
ing than ward. The purpofes of fuch grants having been,
upon the reformation, declared fuperftitious, the lands
mortified were annexed to the Crown: But mortifications
to