8 
F R A 
lord and liis lieirs in free and perpetual alms; and perpe. 
tyal fiippofes it to be a fee-fimple, tliough it n)%y pafs 
without the word fuccejors. Co. Lit. 94. A lay perfon can¬ 
not hold in free alms: and when a grant is in frank-al- 
rioign, no mentioii is to be made of any manner of fervice. 
Lit. 137. None can hold in frank-alinoign but by prefcrip- 
tion, or by force of fome grant made before the flatute 
of mortmiiin. 7 £r/ai. 1. fl. 2. iS I. c. 3. So that tiie 
tenure cannot at this day be created, to hold of a founder 
and his lieirs in free alms; but the king is not reftrained 
"by the flatules ; nor a fubjeef licenfed or difpenfed with 
by the king, to make fueb a grant. Co. Lit. 98. And if 
an eccletiaflical perfon holds lands by fealty and certain 
rent, the lord may at this time confirm his eftate, to hold 
to him and his fuccelTors in frank-almoign ; for the former 
fervices are extinft, and nothing is referred but that he 
fhould hold of him, which he did before ; whereby this 
change and alteration is not within the flat. iS Edw. I. of 
quia emptores terrariim. Co.Lit.qt). 
Tenure in frank-almoign is incident to the inheritable 
blood of the donor or founder ; except in cafe of the king, 
who may grant this tenure to hold of him and his fuccef- 
fors. Lit. 135. And the reafon why a grant in frank-al- 
nioign, (ince the flat. 18 Edw. I. {quia emptorei) is void, ex¬ 
cept in the cafe of the king, &c. is becaufe none can hold 
land by this tenure, but of the donor; whereas the" ftatute 
injoins, that it be held of the chief lord, by the fame 
fervice by which the feoffor held it ; though the king 
may grant away any effate, and referve the tenure to him- 
felf. Co. Idt. 223. The fervice which ecclefiaftical cor¬ 
porations were .bound to render for lands held in frank-al¬ 
moign was not certainly defined, but only in general, to 
pray for the fouls of the donor and his heirs, dead or 
alive ; and therefore-they did no fealty (which is incident 
to all other fervices but this), becaufe this divine fervice 
was of a higher and more exalted nature. Lit. 134, 5. 
This is the tenure by which almoff all the ancient mo- 
nafteries and religious houfes held their lands; and by 
which the parochial clergy and very many ecclefiaftical 
and eleemofynary foundations hold them to this day. The 
nature of the fervice being, upon the reformation, altered 
and made conformable to the dodtrines of the church of 
England. It was an old Saxon tenure, and continued 
under the Norman revolution ; from the refpedt then 
fiiewn to religion and religious men ; which is alfo the 
reafon that tenants in frank-almoign were difeharged of 
all other fervices, except the trinoda necejjitas of repairing 
the highways, building caffles and repelling invafions. 
See jSrat'Z. 1. 4. tr. I. c. 28. Scld. Jan. i. ^^2. 
FRANK-CHA'SE, in lav^’, a liberty of free chafe; by 
which all perlons that have lands within the cornpafs 
thereof, are prohibited to cut down any wood, &:c. with¬ 
out the view of the forefter, though it be in their'own de- 
mefnes. Cromp. Jurif. 
FRA.NK-l''EE, in law, freehold lands which are held 
exempted from all lervices, but not from homage. That 
is frank-fee which a man holds at the common law to him 
and Ills heirs; and not by fuch fervice as is required in 
ancient demefne, according to the cuffom of the manor; 
and the lands in the liand of king Edward the Con- 
leffbr, at the making of the book of Domefday, vvere an¬ 
cient demefne, and all the reft of frank-fee. Reg.Orig, 12. 
F,. N. B. 161. Thefe lands were exempted from all fer¬ 
vices, but not f.-om homage.^ Bro.Cit. Demefne ■iz, fays, 
th.at land which is'in the hands of the king or lord of any 
manor, or being ancient demefne of the crown (viz. the 
demefnes), is called frdnkfee-, and that which is in the 
iumds of the tenant, is ancient demefne only. The author 
of the Terms of the Law defines a free-fee to be a tenure 
pleadable at the common law ; and not in ancient demefne. 
See Cowel, Blount, and the article Ancient Demesne, 
vol.i.p.675. 
FR AKK-FE'RM, in law, lands or tenements changed 
ill tlie nature of the fee by feoffment, &c, out of knight 
FRA 
fervice, for certain yearly fervices. Bfitton, c.66. Seethe 
article Fee-Farm, vol.vii. p. 287. 
FRANK-I'OLD, the fame with Foldage, vol.vii. 
P- 5 . 15 - . . . ■ 
FRANK-LAW, in the ancient Englifli jurifprudencej 
is the benefit of the free and common law of the land. 
Crompton fays, “ he that forany offence, lofeth his frank- 
law, falls into three mifehiefs, viz. he may never be im- 
pannelled upon any jury or affize ; or be permitted to give 
any teftimony : if he hath any thing to do in the king’s 
courts, he muff not attend them in perfon, but appoint 
his attorney therein for him.; and his lands ffiall beeftreat- 
ed, and his body committed to prifon.” Cromp. furif. 156. 
FRANK-MAR'RIAGE, in law, a tenure in tail Ipe- 
cial, where a man feifed of land in fee-fimple gives it to 
another with his daughter, fifter, drc. in marriage ; to 
hold to them and their heirs. This tenure groweth from. 
thefe words in the gift, i. e. Sciant, &c. me A. B. dedijfe 
\& concfjijj'e, &c. F. B. filio meo L 3 Anna; uxori ejus, filiis, 
&c. in liberum marit igium, vnummiffuagium, &c, Littm-iq, 
rVefi. Symb. par. i. lib. 2. The effecl of which words is, 
That they fhall have the land to them and the heirs of 
their bodies ; and (ball do no fervices to the donor, except 
fealty, until the fourth degree. GlanvUq.c. 18. And 
Fleta gives this reafon why the heirs do no fervice until 
the fourth degree : Ne donatores veleorum karedes per homagii 
receptionem d reverfone repellantur. And why in the fourth, 
defeent and downward, they (hall do fervices to the donor ; 
quia in quarto grada vehementer prrejumitur, quod terra ef pro.' 
dfeElu baredum donatorum reverjura. Fkta, ■^. c. 11. Brac~ 
ton, 2. c. 7. 
Bradton alfo divides marriage into liberum maritagium 
and maritagium Jervitio obligatum ; which laft was where 
lands were given in marriage, with a refervation of the 
fervices to the donor, which the donee and his heirs were 
bound to perform forever; but neither he, or the next 
two heirs, were obliged to do homage, which was to be. 
done when it came to the fourth degree, and then, and 
not before, they were required to be performed both fer¬ 
vices and homage. Bracl.lib.z. A gift of lands by one 
man to another with a wife in frank-marriage, amounts by 
implication of ' law to a gift in tail; which in this cale 
may be created without the words heirs or body. Lit. 17. 
Wood's Infi. I 20. A gift in frank-marriage might be made, 
as well after as before marriage: and fuch a gift was a 
fee-fiinple before the ftatute of Wefm. 2. but lince, it is. 
ufirally a fee tail : though this tenure is now grown out 
of life, it is dill capable of fiibfifting in law. It is liable 
to no fervice bur fealty. See 2 Cy/«wz. 115. c. 7. '• 
FRA'NK-PLEDGE, in law, a pledge orfurety for the 
behaviour of freemen; it being the ancient ciiftom of this 
kingdom, borrowed from the Lombards, that tor the pre- 
fervation of the public peace, every free-born man at the 
age of fourteen (religious perfons, clerks, &c. excepted) 
Ihould give fecurity for his truth towards the king and his 
fubjedls, or be committed to prifon ; whereupon a cer¬ 
tain number of neighbours, ufually became bound one 
for another, to fee each man of their pledge forth-coming 
at all times, or to anfwer the tranfgreflion done by any 
gone away : and whenever any one offended, it was forth¬ 
with inquired into what pledge he was, and thenthofe of 
that pledge either produced the-offender within one and 
thirty days, or made fatisfadlion for b.is offence. This 
was called frank-pledge ; and this cuffom was fo kept, 
that the (lieriff's at every county-court, from time to time, 
received the oaths of young perfons as they gre5v to four¬ 
teen years of age, and took care that they were fettled in 
one decennary or other; whereby this branch of the (he- 
rift ’s authority was called vifus fraud plegii, or view of 
frank-pledge. Living under frank-pledge was termed, 
living, under law, &c. See the article Court-Leet, 
vol. V. p. 301. 
FRANK-TEN'EMENT, in law, a polfeffion of free¬ 
hold hands and tenements. See Freehold, in this vol. 
FRANKED- 
