seignory

In English law, seignory or seigniory, spelled signiory in Early Modern English (; French: seigneur [sɛɲœʁ] , lit. 'lord'; Latin: senior, lit. 'elder'), refers to the rights which a grantor retains after the grant of an estate in fee simple. Nulle terre sans seigneur ("No land without a lord") was a feudal legal maxim; where no other lord can be discovered, the Crown is lord as lord paramount. The principal incidents of a seignory were a feudal oath of homage and fealty; a "quit" or "chief" rent; a "relief" of one year's quit rent, and the right of escheat. In return for these privileges, the lord was liable to forfeit his rights if he neglected to protect and defend the tenant or did anything injurious to the feudal relation. Every seignory now existing must have been created before the s...