▪ I. feu, n. Sc. Law.
(fjuː)
Forms: 5–8 few, 6– feu.
[a. OF. feu, fieu, fiu; see the variant fee n.2]
1. = fee n.2 1; also, a tract of land held in fee. (Used by modern Scottish jurists indiscriminately with fee as a rendering of med.L. feudum.)
| 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. Table, s.v., Gif the vassall committis ane trespas aganis his overlord: he tines his few halden of him. lib. 2. c. 63, 4. [The word is not in the text, which renders feudum by ‘lands’.] 1754 Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 136 Allodial goods are opposed to feus. a 1768 ― Instit. Sc. Law (1773) I. 209 When mention is made of a feu or subfeu, we are not necessarily to understand a grant of lands holden in feu-farm, but a feudal grant in general..unless where the subject treated of naturally confines it to a feu-holding. |
2. A feudal tenure of land in which the vassal, in place of military service, makes a return of grain or money (opposed to
ward or military holding and
blanch or holding at a nominal rent); a grant of lands on these conditions; in
mod. use, a perpetual lease for a fixed rent (
= feu-farm). Phrases:
in, upon feu: subject to such payments or performance of duties; also
to hold feu,
set into feu.
| 1497 Ld. Treas. Acc. Scot. I. 315, I resauit fra the Lard of Teling..of the releif of few and blanchferme of the entre of Johne Lord Glammys, thretj thre lib. 1535 Lyndesay Satyre 2685 Set into few ȝour temporall lands. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xxiii. 30 Thocht thair was sum that tuik thy rowmis in few. 1720 Lond. Gaz. No. 5866/3 A small Part holding Few of the Earl of Strathmore. 1759 Robertson Hist. Scot. (1817) II. iii. 74 By granting feus, and perpetual leases of lands. 1826 Scott Provinc. Antiq. II. 110 A grant for disposing of it, in feu. 1892 Gladstone in Daily News 25 Mar. 3/4 To hold land upon feu from the landlord. |
b. A piece of land held ‘in feu’; a holding.
| 1791 T. Newte Tour Eng. & Scot. 375 A small piece, or feu of ground in Fifeshire. 1820 Scott Monast. i, The vassals of the church..were permitted in comparative quiet to possess their farms and feus. 1864 A. M{supc}Kay Hist. Kilmarnock 313 On the other side some feus were unoccupied. |
3. attrib. and
Comb.; simple
attrib., as
feu-grant,
feu-parchment,
feu-rent,
feu-system; special comb., as
feu-annual (see
quot. 1710), hence
-annualer;
feu-charter = next;
feu-contract, the contract regulating the giving out of land in feu, between the superior and vassal;
feu-duty, the annual rent paid by a vassal to his superior for tenure of lands;
feu-holding, a tenure of lands in feu;
feu-right, the right of holding (land, etc.) in feu.
| 1597 Skene De Verb. Sign. s.v. Annuell, In the Actes of Parliament maid be Queene Marie 4 Parlia. 29. Maij c. 10 mention is maid of ground annuell, *few annuell and top annuell, quhairof I..am incertaine quhat they do signifie. 1710 J. Dundas View Feud. Law Gloss. 127 Few-annuals, that which is due by the Reddendo of the Property of the Ground, before the House was built within Burgh. |
| 1551 Sc. Acts Q. Mary (1597) §10. 134 b, The *few annuellaris. |
| a 1768 Erskine Instit. Sc. Law (1773) I. 207 The word *feu⁓charter is never made use of but to denote the special tenure by feu-farm. |
| 1832 Austin Jurispr. (1879) II. lii. 879 The *feu-contract is in the nature of a perpetual lease and is in Scotland the usual mode of letting land for building purposes. |
| 1597 Sc. Acts Jas. VI, §246 Incase it sal happen..ony vassall or fewar..to failzie in making of payment of his *few dewtie. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. xvi. (1857) 356 Paying a large arrear of feu-duty. |
| a 1768 Erskine Instit. Sc. Law (1773) I. 222 The vassal's loss of his *feu-grant. |
| 1748 De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. IV. 39 Converted into Blanch and *Feu holdings. 1873 Burton Hist. Scot. V. lxiv. 444 Some of the beneficial interests thus conveyed were mere leases, others were feu-holdings. |
| 1825 Scott Fam. Lett. 12 Oct. (1894) II. 353 A grim old Antiquary..all *feu-parchment, snuff, and..whisky toddy. |
| 1866 Miss Mulock Noble Life xv. 267 Houses..the *feu-rents of which made the estate..more valuable every year. |
| 1774 Petit. in M{supc}Kay Hist. Kilmarnock App. iii. 305 The reddendo of this *feu-right is {pstlg}7 Scots yearly. |
| 1891 Labour Commission Gloss., The *feu system is a custom (in use in Scotland) under which a piece of land is purchased by a perpetual yearly payment. |
▪ II. feu, v. (
fjuː)
[f. feu n.] trans. To grant (land) upon feu. Also to
feu off,
feu out.
| 1717 De Foe Mem. Ch. Scot. ii. 23 Temporalities feu'd to themselves. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 59 He had recourse to wadsetts; or feued off a part of his property at a quit-rent. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. xiv. (1857) 301 A little bit of ground, which he had failed in getting feued out for buildings. 1866 Miss Mulock Noble Life vii. 109 To find out the exact extent and divisions of his property, and to whom it was feued. |
▪ III. ‖ feu, a. (
f{obar})
[Fr., deceased.] = late a.
1 5.
| 1813 Jane Austen Let. 3 Nov. (1932) II. 366 The Bru of feu the Archbishop says she cannot pay for it immediately. 1868 C. M. Yonge Chaplet of Pearls II. xliii. 252 Discoursing..on feu M. l'Amiral's saying. 1912 A. Lang Shakes., Bacon & Gt. Unknown v. 113 Mr. Reed, a Baconian of whom Mr. Collins wrote in terms worthy of feu Mr. Bludyer. |