s o c 



The pods of this are of the fame (hape with thofe of the 

 common vaniUa, but are nearly twice as large. A bundle 

 of about fifty of thefe ufually weighs five ounces, and luch 

 a bundle of the fobre buena kind often weighs eight. 

 Thefe are full of a blackilh balfamic liquor, in which are 

 contained a number of fmall feeds 



s o c 



and that, in reference to its original, it ttill retains the name 

 of focage, or plough-fervice. But this by no means agrees 

 with what Littleton himfelf tells us, that to hold by fealty 

 only, without paying any rent, is tenure in focage ; for 

 here is plainly no commutation for plough-fervice. Befides, 

 even fervices, confeffedly of a military nature and original. 



SOBREYRA, in Botany, a genus named in honour of the inllant they were reduced to a certainty, changed both 

 hn Sobreyra, a Spanilh monk and a naturahft. De their name and nature, and were called focage. It was the 

 nil oouicjin, u Y certainty, therefore, that denominated it a focage-tenure ; 



John 



SOC, SoK, or Soka, in Ltfui, denotes jurifdidion ; or 

 a power or privilege to adminifter juftice, and execute 



laws. 



The word is alfo ufed for the (hire, circuit, or territory, 

 in which fuch power is exercifed by him endued with futh 

 jurifdiftion. 



Hence, alfo, the law Latin foca, ufed for a leignory or 

 lordfhip infraiichifed by the king, with liberty of holding a 

 court of \\K foe-men or focagen, that is, his tenants ; whofe 

 tenure is hence called yifaf^. 



This kind of liberty ftill fubfifts in feveral parts of Eng- 

 land, under the name oi foke or foken. Skene defines /oc 

 to be, feaa de homlnlbus fuis in curia fecundum confuetudmem 

 regnl. Brady makes mention of thefe liberties: foc,fac, tol, 

 team, infangthef, and ulfangthef. 



In the laws of Henry I. Joea is alfo ufed as fynonimous 

 with franchife, for a privileged place, refuge, afylum, or 

 fanftuary, &c. from the Saxon /ocn, ox focne. 



SOCAGE, or SoccAGE, in its moft extenfive fignifica- 

 tion, feems to denote a tenure by any certain and deter- 

 minate fervice. And thus, our ancient writers conltantly 

 put it in oppofition to chivalry, or knight-fervice, where 

 the render was uncertain. 



Thus Brafton, if a man holds by a rent in money, with- 

 out any efcuage or ferjeanty, id tenementum did potejl foca- 

 gium. Littleton alfo defines it to be, where the tenant 



holds his tenement of the lord by any certain fervice in ■ , '. i, i .i j" f i, ij- <• i j 



lieu of all other fervices, fo that they be not fervices of therefore, include all o her methods of holding free-lands 

 chivalry, or knight-fervice: therefore, he tells us, that 

 whatfoever is not tenure of chivalry is tenure in focage. 

 The fervice mull therefore be certain, in order to denomi- 

 nate it focage ; as to hold by fealty and 20x. rent ; or by 

 homage, fealty, and 20s. rent ; or by homage and fealty, 

 ■without rent ; or by fealty and certain corporal fervices, 

 as ploughing the lord's land for three days ; or by feaUy 

 only, without any other fervice ; for all thefe are tenures 

 in focage. 



Socage is of two forts ; -viz. free focage, where the fer- 

 vices are not only certain but honourable ; and villein focage, 

 ■where the fervices, though certain, are of a bafer nature. 



See ViLLENAGE. 



Such as hold by the former tenure are called, in Glanvil, 

 and other fubfequent authors, by the name of Itberi foke- 



certatnty, tlieretore, that denominated it a locage- 

 and nothing furely could be a greater liberty or privilege, 

 than to have the fervice afcertained, and not left to the 

 arbitrary calls of the lord, as in the tenure of chivalry. 

 Wherefore alfo Britton, who defcribes focage-tenure under 

 the name oi fraunke ferme, tells us, that they are lands and 

 tenements, of which the nature of the fee is changed by 

 feoffment out of chivalry for certain yearly fervices, and in 

 refpedf of which, neither homage, ward, marriage, nor re- 

 lief, can be demanded. Moreover, if focage-tenures were 

 of fuch bafe and fervile original, it is hard to account for 

 the very great immunities, which the tenants of them al- 

 ways enjoyed ; fo highly fuperior to thofe of the tenants 

 by chivalr)', that it was thought, in the reigns of both Ed- 

 ward I. and Charles II. a point of the utmoft importance 

 and value to the tenants, to reduce the tenants by knight- 

 fervice to fraunke ferme, or tenure by focage. It feems 

 probable, therefore, that the focage-tenures were the relics 

 of Saxon liberty, retained by fuch perfons as had neither 

 forfeited them to the king, nor been obliged to exchange 

 their tenure for the more honourable, as it was called, but 

 at the fame time more burthenfome tenure of knight-fervice. 

 This is pecuharly remarkable in the tenure called gavel- 

 kind, which is generally acknowledged to be a fpecies of 

 focage-tenure ; the prefervation of which inviolate from the 

 innovations of the Norman conqueror, is a faft univerfally 

 known. And thofe who thus preferred their liberties were 

 faid to hold in free and common focage. This tenure will. 



or tenants in free focage. This, in the nature of foe-men 



by certain and invariable rents and duties ; and, in parti- 

 cular, petit ferjeanty, tenure in burgage, and gavel-kind. 

 Blackft. Comm. book ii. cap. 6. Lord Littleton's Hill, of 

 Hen. II. vol. iii. p. 158. 8vo. 



Skene defines focage, a tenure of lands, by which a man 

 is infeoffed freely, without wardfhip and marriage, paying 

 to his lord fome fmall rents, &c. which is calledyj-^^ focage, 

 &c. Several divifions of focage are met with in law-writers, 

 M focage in capite, &c. But by llat. 12 Car. II. it is or- 

 dained, that all tenures from and after the 24th of Fe- 

 bruary, 1645, lliall be adjudged and taken for ever, to be 

 turned into free and common focage. 



Socage, Guardian in. See GuARDIAN. 



SOCAGERS, in our Old Writers, fuch tenants as held 

 by the tenure called focage. They were otherwife called 



its fervice, and the fruits and confequences appertaining to 

 it, was always much the moll free and independent fpecies 

 of any. On this account, the learned judge Blackllone 

 affents to Mr. Somner'S etymology of the word ; who de- 

 rives it from the Saxon appellation yoc, which fi^nxfies liberty 

 or privilege, and, being joined to a ufual termination, is 

 cAXeA focage, fignifying by it a free or privileged tenure. 

 This etymology, he fays, feems to be much more ju!t than 

 that of our common lawyers in general, who derive it from 

 foca, a plough ; becaufe in ancient time their focage-tenure 

 confifted in nothing elfe, but fervices of hufbandry, which 

 the tenant was bound to do to his lord, as to plough, fow, 

 or reap for him ; but that in procefs of time, this fervice 

 was changed into an annual reut by confent of all parties, 



SOCANDAGO, in Geography. See Sagendago. 



SOCCELLI, among the Romans, were fwaths or bands, 

 which covered the leg down to the foccus. 



SOCCUS, Sock, in Antiquity, a kind of high fhoe, 

 reaching above the ankle, worn by the aftors in the an- 

 cient drama, in the reprefentation of comic characters. 



The loccus was much lower than the cothurnus, and 

 was the diftinguifhing wear of the comedians ; as the co- 

 thurnus was of the tragedians; hence foccus is frequently 

 ufed for comedy itfclf. Comedy, fays M. Fenelon, mult 

 talk in a humbler llyle than tragedy ; the fock is lower 

 than the buflcin. 



S0CCU6, in Botany. See Artocarfus. 



SOCERGA, 



