Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/72

of A, and A of the king; or, in other words, B held his lands immediately of A, but mediately of the king. The king therefore was ſtiled lord paramount; A was both tenant and lord, or was a meſne lord; and B was called tenant paravail, or the loweſt tenant; being he who is ſuppoſed to make avail, or profit, of the land^[1]. In this manner are all the lands of the kingdom holden, which are in the hands of ſubjects: for, according to ſir Edward Coke^[2], in the law of England we have not properly allodium; which, we have ſeen^[3], is the name by which the feudiſts abroad diſtinguiſh ſuch eſtates of the ſubject, as are not holden of any ſuperior. So that at the firſt glance we may obſerve, that our lands are either plainly feuds, or partake very ſtrongly of the feodal nature.

All tenures being thus derived, or ſuppoſed to be derived, from the king, thoſe that held immediately under him, in right of his crown and dignity, were called his tenants in capite, or in chief; which was the moſt honourable ſpecies of tenure, but at the ſame time ſubjected the tenants to greater and more burthenſome ſervices, than inferior tenures did^[4]. This diſtinction ran through all the different ſorts of tenure; of which I now proceed to give an account.

1. There ſeem to have ſubſiſted among our anceſtors four principal ſpecies of lay tenures, to which all others may be reduced: the grand criteria of which were the natures of the ſeveral ſervices or renders, that were due to the lords from their tenants. The ſervices, in reſpect of their quality, were either free or baſe ſervices; in reſpect of their quantity and the time of exacting them, were either certain or uncertain. Free ſervices ſuch as were not unbecoming the charadler of a ſoldier, or a free-

1. 2 Inſt. 296.
2. 1 Inſt. 1
3. pag. 47.
4. In the Germanic conſtitution, the electors, the biſhops, the ſecular princes, the imperial cities, &c, which hold directly from the emperor, are called the immediate ſtates of the empire; all other landholders being denominated mediate ones. Mod. Un. Hiſt. xlii. 61.