P According to this system

every receiver of land, or feudatory, was bound, when called on, to serve his immediate lord or superior, and to do all in his power to defend him. Such lord or superior was likewise subordinate to, and under the command of, a higher superior or lord; and so on upward to the prince or general himself. The several lords were also reciprocally bound in their respective gradations to protect the po e ions ‘, they had given. Thus the connectionj between lord and va al was made to* wear all the appearance of a mutual interchange of benefits—of bounty and protection on the one hand, and of, gratitude and service on the other. In this way the feudal! connection was established, and an army was always at command, ready to fight in defense of the whole or of any part of the newly-acquired territory. The wisdom of these measures became evident to the other princes of Europe, and many of them who were independent adopted this system as a means of. strengthening their power, parcelling out their royal territories, or persuading their subjects to surrender up and retake their own landed property under the like feudal obligations of military fealty. Thus the feudal constitution, or doctrine of tenure, extended itself over all the W. world; and the feudal laws drove out the Roman, <¢ which had hitherto universally prevailed. This system was adopted in most countries of Europe from the 9th to the end of the 13th century; but it differed in various particulars in the different countries. Though there can be no doubt that feudal principles prevailed to a considerable extent in the polity of the Saxons in England, yet it was only when that country was conquered by the Normans that it was regularly established. In some respects, however, the system of feudalism established in England differed from that of France, from which it was taken. One of these was that the king was the universal lord and original proprietor of all the lands in his kingdom, and that no man could po e or hold any part of it but what was mediately or immediately derived from him, to be held mediately or immediately of him on feudal service. Hence the Conqueror introduced the practice of compelling those holding mediately as well as immediately of himself to swear fealty to him; and thus the inferior va als were under two oaths — the one of fealty to the king, the other of fealty to their immediate superior. It has been ‘remarked, however, that when the two interests came into collision, the va al rarely failed to obey his lord rather than his ing. A country, under the feudal law,! was divided into knights’ fees, the tenant of each of which appears to have been obliged to keep the field at his own expense for 40 days whenever his lord chose to call on him. For smaller portions of land, smaller periods of service were due. Every great tenant exercised a jurisdiction, civil and criminal, over his immediate tenants, and held courts and administered the laws within his lordship like a sovereign prince. The existence of man or courts and other small jurisdictions within the kingdom is one of the features of the feudal system. The land escheated to the lord when the tenant left no heir, and it was forfeited to him when he was found guilty either of a breach of his oath of fealty or of felony. ‘There were also fines payable to the lord on certain occasions, as well as aids, reliefs, etc. The va al had also to attend the lord’s courts, sometimes to witne , and sometimes to take part in, the administration of justice; in battle he was bound to lend his horse to his lord if dismounted, to keep his side while fighting, and go into captivity as a hostage for him when taken. It was a breach of faith to divulge his (the lord’s) counsel, to conceal from him the machinations of others, to injure his person or fortune, or to violate the sanctity of his roof. The nearest approach to the feudal system in the United States was the tenure by which tenants held from the patroons of manors on and near the Hudson. It nearly caused civil war in New York State and has long been abolished. The right of eminent domain is inherited from the feudal system, the State taking the place of the Crown.