allodium[1]; which latter the writers on this ſubject define to be every man's own land, which he poſſeſſeth merely in his own right, without owing any rent or ſervice to any ſuperior. This is property in it's higheſt degree; and the owner thereof hath abſolutum et directum dominium, and therefore is ſaid to be ſeiſed thereof abſolutely in dominico ſuo, in his own demeſne. But feodum, or fee, is that which is held of ſome ſuperior, on condition of rendering him ſervice; in which ſuperior the ultimate property of the land reſides. And therefore ſir Henry Spelman[2] defines a feud or fee to be the right which the vaſal or tenant hath in lands, to uſe the ſame, and take the profits thereof to him and his heirs, rendering to the lord his due ſervices; the mere allodial propriety of the ſoil always remaining in the lord. This allodial property no ſubject in England has[3]; it being a received, and now undeniable, principle in the law, that all the lands in England are holden mediately or immediately of the king. The king therefore only hath abſolutum et directum dominium[4]; but all ſubjects' lands are in the nature of feodum or fee; whether derived to them by deſcent from their anceſtors, or purchaſed for a valuable conſideration; for they cannot come to any man by either of thoſe ways, unleſs accompanied with thoſe feodal clogs, which were laid upon the firſt feudatory when it was originally granted. A ſubject therefore hath only the uſufruct, and not the abſolute property of the ſoil; or, as ſir Edward Coke expreſſes it[5], he hath dominium utile, but not dominium directum. And hence it is that, in the moſt ſolemn acts of law, we expreſs the ſtrongeſt and higheſt eſtate, that any ſubject can have, by theſe words; "he is ſeiſed thereof in his demeſne, as of fee." It is a man's demeſne, dominicum, or property, ſince it belongs to him and his heirs for ever: yet this dominicum, property, or demeſne, is ſtrictly not abſolute or allodial, but qualified or feodal: it is his demeſne, as of fee; that is, it is not purely and ſimply his own, ſince it is held of a ſuperior lord, in whom the ultimate property reſides.
