Legal Definitions - firma feodi

Firma feodi is a historical legal term from English land law. It refers to the fixed, perpetual rent that a tenant owed to a lord under a specific type of land tenure known as a "fee farm."

In a "fee farm" arrangement, a person was granted land to hold forever (similar to modern outright ownership), but in return, they had to pay a set, unchangeable annual rent to the grantor or their heirs. The holder of the land had significant rights, including the ability to pass the land to their own heirs, but the obligation to pay the fixed rent continued indefinitely. The firma feodi was this specific, unchanging annual payment.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Historical Agricultural Grant: In 14th-century England, a powerful baron granted a large tract of fertile farmland to a local knight and his descendants in perpetuity. In exchange, the knight agreed to pay the baron a fixed sum of 20 silver shillings every year on the Feast of St. Michael. This annual payment of 20 silver shillings, which would never change, was the firma feodi. The knight and his heirs had full rights to cultivate the land and profit from it, but the obligation to pay this specific, unchanging rent continued indefinitely to the baron's successors.
• Medieval Urban Development: Imagine a medieval town where the local monastery owned a prime plot of undeveloped land within the town walls. The monastery granted this plot to a guild of master builders "in fee farm," allowing the guild to construct shops and residences on it and hold the land forever. The condition was that the guild and its successors would pay a fixed annual rent of 10 gold florins to the monastery. This fixed annual payment, regardless of the value or prosperity of the buildings erected on the land, constituted the firma feodi.
• Modern Legacy Payment: Centuries ago, a wealthy family granted a significant estate to a distant relative, stipulating in the deed that the recipient and all future owners of the land must pay a fixed annual sum of £1 to a specific charitable trust established by the family. Today, the current owner of that estate still sends this nominal £1 payment each year to the trust, as required by the ancient covenant. This small, fixed annual payment, which has remained unchanged for hundreds of years despite inflation, is a direct legacy of a firma feodi obligation, demonstrating a perpetual, unchanging rent tied to the land.