FIEF

(Lat. feodum.) The French name for an estate inlands held of a feudal superior. In English law language, a/ee: also termed a feud by writers on feudal jurisprudence. (See Feudal System.) In the legal language of France, ».fief was opposed to an aleu, or estate held allod i ally, without any lord paramount. "Various derivations of the word have been given; but the most probable is that which traces it through the steps feodum, feudum, emphyteuticum, from the Gr. i/^^urttxr;?, aeon tract whereby the use of the land without the property in it was surrendered to a tenant. [s. 462]