142 History of the English Lanaed Interest. 



the alienator to make an arrangement with, the new sub- 

 feudarius, whereby the latter held his lands of him instead of 

 the original grantor of the fief ; and before this abuse could be 

 checked the Statute of Quia Emptores was necessitated. 



Perhaps the three most expensive, if not most important, 

 events in the life of a Norman warrior was his son's coming of 

 age, or rather, reception into the ranks of knighthood, his 

 daughter's marriage, and his own capture in battle. To defray 

 the expenses respectively of equipment, dowry, and ransom, 

 provision was made under the feudal incident of Aids, wbereby 

 another theoretical " donation " became obligatory on the vassal. 



Whenever a vassal died without an heir, or whenever he 

 committed any act unworthy of his feud, the latter reverted to 

 the Lord, an incident technically termed Escheat. AVhen the 

 first of these occurrences took place, it was an Escheat propter 

 defectum sanguinis ; when the second, it was an Escheat prop- 

 ter delictum tenentis, more commonly called forfeiture. 



The incident of Purveyance and Preemption was a privilege, 

 mercifully for English agriculture, confined in this country to 

 the Crown. It was of two kinds, the great purveyance, which 

 compelled the nearest farmers in times of war to furnish the 

 king's armies and castles with provisions at current prices, and 

 the smaller purveyance, which consisted of certain farms on 

 the king's ancient demesnes, by the cultivation of which for 

 royal necessities, the lords of neighbouring manors held tenure. 

 This method, however, soon proved cumbersome, and was there- 

 fore replaced by the appointment of royal purveyors, who exer- 

 cised rights of preemption and other privileges which, leading 

 to gross acts of injustice and exaction, ultimately required re- 

 strictive legislation. 



So far we have been concerned with feudal tenures in their 

 relationship to military requirements. Many of the incidents, 

 like the head of Janus, had a peaceful as well as a warlike aspect. 



There is no doubt, for example, tliat the incident of Relief 

 closely related as it was to that of the heriot, included the 

 farmer's peaceful offering on succeeding to the inheritance. 

 We have already stated elsewhere that the lord's capital sup- 

 plied the socman's farming stock, and traced to this practice 



