Question — Bontempi, Palladium Theologicum V · from Schola Thomistica
Question III: What a fief is, and of how many kinds
A FEUD, named from fides (faith), is the grant of an immovable thing with the translation of the useful dominion, the proprietorship retained, under the burden of exhibiting fidelity and personal service: by which reason it differs from Emphyteusis.
FEUDUM a fide dictum, est concessio rei immobilis cum translatione utilis dominii, proprietate retenta sub onere fidelitatis, et obsequii personalis exhibendi: qua ratione ab Emphyteusi differt.
He who grants the feud is the Lord of the feud: he who receives it, however, is the Feudatory. Or he is called a Vassal, as D. Bonaventure notes in the Diaeta, titulo 2. cap. 5.
Is, qui feudum concedit, est Dominus feudi: qui vero accipit, Feudatarius. Seu Vassallus dicitur, ut notat D. Bonav. in Diaeta, titulo 2. cap. 5.
ONE feud is proper, another improper: one noble, another not ennobling; the noble one, one regal, another not. One is called Liege, in which fidelity is sworn against every man: another not Liege, ligium, in which the prior lord is excepted. One is frank, another not frank, from services. One Ecclesiastical: another secular.
FEUDUM aliud est proprium, aliud improprium: aliud nobile, aliud non nobilitans; nobile, aliud regale, aliud non. Aliud vocatur Ligium, in quo iuratur fidelitas contra omnem hominem: aliud non Ligium, ligium, in quo prior dominus excipitur. Aliud est francum, aliud non francum a servitiis. Aliud Ecclesiasticum: aliud saeculare.
FOR a feud the same conditions are required as for an Emphyteusis, except that the Vassal, where the feud is pure, is not bound to a rent, but in place of the rent to service, which, omitting it when it is required, he loses the feud. Fidelity, moreover, is sworn to the Lord, as is had in Sylvester, verb. Feudum: not to harm the lord, nor to divulge his secrets.
AD feudum eaedem conditiones requiruntur, quae et ad Emphyteusim, nisi quod Vasallus, ubi feudum est purum, non tenetur ad pensionem, sed loco pensionis ad obsequium, quod omittens, cum requiritur, amittit feudum. Iuratur autem Domino fidelitas, ut habetur apud Sylvestrum verb. Feudum, non nocendi domino, nec secreta pandendi.
THE Vassal, however, is bound to seek the investiture of the feud within a year and a day, provided, however, that if he be a knight, he has a year and a month; or if he be under 14 years of age, or impeded by a just cause: See Tanner, disp. 4. quaest. 7. dub. 6. Balzus, v. Feudum and the others cited by these.
TENETUR autem Vasallus intra annum, et diem petere investituram feudi, si tamen sit miles, habet annum, et mensem; vel si sit minor 14. annis, vel iusta causa impeditus: Vide Tannerum disp. 4. quaest. 7. dub. 6. Balzaeum v. Feudum et caeteros apud istos.