(2.) Those which, beside the quit-rent, are subject to other kinds of feudal servitude.
(3.) Those held in mortmain, à taille réelle, en bordelage.
Only the first and second of these three forms of non-noble property were common in the eighteenth century; the third was extremely rare. The valuations to be made of them, according to our author, were less on coming down to the second class, and still less on coming down to the third. Men in possession of estates of the third class were not even, strictly speaking, their owners, inasmuch as they were not able to alienate them without permission from the Seigneur.
Le Terrier.—The feudistes, whom we have cited above, point out the following rules observed in the compilation or renewal of the seignorial registers, called ‘Terriers,’ mention of which has been made in many parts of the work. The Terrier was a single register, in which were recorded all the titles proving the rights appertaining to the seigneurie, whether in property or in honorary, real, personal, or mixed rights. All the declarations of the payers of the cens, the usages of the seigneurie, the leases à cens, &c., were inserted in it. We learn by our authors that, in the coutume of Paris, the Seigneurs were permitted to renew their registers every thirty years at the expense of their censitaires: they add, however, ‘It may be considered a very fortunate circumstance, nevertheless, when a new one may be found once a century.’ The Terrier could not be renewed (it was a vexatious business for all the persons dependent on the seigneurie) without obtaining, either from the Grande Chancellerie (if in cases of seigneuries situated within the jurisdiction of different Parliaments), or of the Parliaments (in the contrary case), an authorisation which was denominated ‘Lettres à Terrier.’ The notary who drew them up was nominated by the judicial authorities. All the vassals, noble or non-noble, the payers of the cens, holders of long leases (emphytéotes), and personages subject to the jurisdiction of the seigneurie were bound to appear before this notary. A plan of the seigneurie had to be annexed to the Terrier.
Besides the Terrier, the seigneurie was provided with other registers, called ‘lièves,’ in which the Seigneurs or their farmers inscribed the sums received in payment of the cens, with the names of those who paid and the dates of the receipts.
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] I have more especially used the archives of some of the great Intendancies, particularly that of Tours, which are very complete and relate to a very extensive district placed in the centre of France, and peopled by a million of inhabitants. My thanks are due to the young and able keeper of these records, M. Grandmaison. Other districts, amongst them that of the Île-de-France, have shown me that business was transacted in the same manner in the greater part of the kingdom.
[2] Burke’s speech on the Army estimates, 1790.
[3] Letters on a Regicide Peace.