burgage Law.
(ˈbɜːgɪdʒ)
Also 4 borgage.
[ad. med.L. burgāgium (OF. bourgage), f. burg-us (see prec. and borough) + -agium.]
1. A tenure whereby lands or tenements in cities and towns were held of the king or other lord, for a certain yearly rent.
In Scotland, that tenure by which the property in royal burghs is held under the crown, proprietors being liable to the (nominal) service of watching and warding; or, as it is commonly termed, ‘service of burgh, used and wont’.
| 1502 Gt. Charter in Arnold's Chron. (1811) 219 Yf ani holde of vs bi feeferme or bi socage or burgage. 1602 W. Fulbecke 1st Pt. Parallel 21 Burgage is where the tenants of an auncient borough, do hold lands within the Borough of the King or some other person. 1676 B. W[illis] Man. Goldsm. 71 The said Tenements and Rents be held of Us in Free Burgage. 1768 Blackstone Comm. II. 82 Tenure in burgage is..where the king or other person is lord of an antient borough, in which the tenements are held by a rent certain. 1863 H. Cox Instit. i. viii. 94 The more ancient [boroughs] hold their lands in burgage. |
b. ellipt. = in burgage.
| 1868 Act 31 & 32 Vict. ci. §102 (Referring to Scotland) Seised in any lands held burgage. |
† 2. A freehold property in a borough; also, a house or other property held by burgage tenure.
| [1292 Britton iii. ii. §10 Bourgage est tenement de cité ou de bourg, ou de autre lu privilegie par nous.] 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 77 Þei timbrede not so hye, Ne bouȝte none Borgages. 1538 Leland Itin. IV. 117 A. B. of Lichfield gave..certaine Free Burgages in the Towne for to sett this House on. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 121 Gif ane bond man of ane Earle..comes to ane burgh, and buyes to himselfe, ane burgage, and dwelles in that burgage ane zeare. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) III. xiii. 40 The right [to the elective franchise] sprang from the tenure of certain freehold lands or burgages within the borough. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
burgage-holder,
burgage-holding,
burgage-house,
burgage-land,
burgage-tenant,
burgage-tenement,
burgage-tenure.
| 1835 Blackw. Mag. XXXV. 975 A check to the abuses of the *burgage aristocracy. |
| 1748 Lond. Mag. 32 The two Representatives [of Aldborough, Suffolk] are chosen by the Majority of the *Burgage-holders. |
| 1754 Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 151 *Burgage-holding is that by which boroughs-royal hold of the sovereign. |
| 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4700/4 Two *Burgage Houses or Tenements. |
| 1586 J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 107 If he were possessed..of *burgage lands. |
| 1819 Mackintosh Parl. Suffrage Wks. 1846 III. 213 In the reign of Edward the First..the members..for cities and towns [were chosen] by freemen, *burgage tenants, householders or freeholders. 1876 Digby Real Prop. i. ii. §3. 48 An important class of socage tenants..who held lands of lords by this tenure in towns..had obtained the distinctive name of burgage tenants. |
| 1828 Scott F.M. Perth III. 321, I will change..thy *burgage tenement for an hundred-pound-land to maintain thy rank withal. |
| 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 12 Dyuers tenures..as..escuage, socage..*burgage tenures. 1810 in Risdon's Surv. Devon 402 The borough..is held..in burgage tenure. |