socage

Definition of socage

Alternative forms

• soccage

Etymology

From Middle English sokage from Anglo-Norman socage from soc (“soke”) +‎ -age. More at soke, -age.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈs�'kɪʤ/

Noun

socage (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) In the Middle Ages, a system whereby a tenant would pay a rent or do some agricultural work for the landlord.
   
   * 1990, John Updike, Rabbit at Rest:
   [...] this quiz with all the strange old terms in it, curtilage and messuage and socage and fee simple and fee tail and feoffee and copyhold and customary freehold and mortmain and devises and lex loci rei sitae.

Further reading

Socage was one of the feudal duties and hence land tenure forms in the feudal system. A farmer, for example, held the land in exchange for a clearly defined, fixed payment to be made at specified intervals to his feudal lord, who in turn had his own feudal obligations, to the farmer and to the Crown. In theory this might involve supplying the lord with produce but most usually it meant a straightforward payment of cash, i.e., rent.

In this respect it contrasted with other forms of tenure including serjeanty (the farmer paid no rent but had to perform some personal/official service on behalf of his lord, including in times of war) and frankalmoin (some form of religious service). For those higher up the feudal pyramid, there was also knight-service (military service) as a condition of land tenure.

The English statute Quia Emptores of Edward I (1290) established that socage tenure passed automatically from one generation to the next (unlike leases). As feudalism declined, socage tenure increased until it became the normal form of tenure in the Kingdom of England. In 1660, the Statute of Tenures ended the remaining forms of military service and all free tenures were converted into socage.

The holder of a soc or socage tenure was referred to as a socager (Anglo-Norman) or socman (Anglo-Saxon).