III. FEB. 25, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
whether or not herezeld still exists ; some
authorities hold that it is entirely obsolete
Even in the eighteenth century it was seldom
exacted, and then only in some districts o
the Highlands and in some of the southern
counties. A herezeld was
" the best audit ox, kow, or uther beast, quhilk ane husbandman possessour of the audit pairt o ane dauach of land (foure oxen gang) dwelland ane deceasand theirupon lies in his possession the time of his decease, quhilk audit and suld be given tones landislord or maister of the said land."
In Green's 'Encyclopaedia of Scots Law (1897, vol. vi. p. 180) this is said to mean " the best movable, or, more properly, the best thing capable of moving e.g., ox, cow, horse, <fcc. of which the tenant died possessed.' According to Craig, 'Jus Feudale,' third edition (1732), the herezeld was originally a testamentary bequest by the tenant as a mark of gratitude ; but it was claimed after wards as a right. It was due only when the tenant was residing and died on the estate, and it was not due when he had been warned to remove, and a decree of removing had been obtained against him. It could not be exacted from feuars, but from tenants only (see Hunter on 'Landlord and Tenant,' 1876, vol. ii. p. 302). In an action decided in 1763 it was observed that
"a herezeld is not a casualty incident to a feudal holding ; it was originally due only in the case of a tenant at will dying in possession of a farm, and by acceptation of it the master is bound to continue the widow and children of the tenant deceased in possession of the farm for another year, on the same terms."
Stair (' Institutions,' ii. 3, 80) says that herezelds were
"introduced by custom from the Germans, as the word of their language expressing the same evidenceth ; which signifieth the gratuity left by the labourers of the ground to their master, and which is now due by custom, whether left or not ; and therefore rather from custom than from the nature of the fee. And we have neither rule nor exam pie for paying it by any but by the labourers of the ground, so that, though it be not expressed, it is not reserved to the superior, but belongs to the vassal, as iSkene, race 'Herezeld' ('De Verborum Signiricatione,' subjoined to his edition of 'Acta Parl.,' 1597), observeth ; but whereas he seemeth to make a herezeld only due by tenants possessing four oxengang of land to their masters going to the war, such poor tenants possessing only four oxgate of land or less, not being able, by reason of poverty, to go in person with him ; yet the constant custom layeth herezelds most upon tenants possessing more lands, and generally upon all who are not cottars (not paying immediately to the master, but to his tenant dwelling upon the ground), and there is no difference whether he be a master or a farmer, and it is only due at the tenant's death."
Jamieson (' Scottish Dictionary ') defines
heriot as " The fine exacted by a superior
on the death of his tenant (Galloway)." H&
says the word is radically different from the
old Scottish term " herreyelde," which was.
used in the same sense. He derives heriot
from A.-S. heregeat.
" It primarily signified the tribute given to the lord of a manor for his better preparation for war ;. but came at length to denote the best audit or beast of whatever kind which a tenant died possessed of, due to his superior after death. It is therefore the same with the English forensic term Heriot."
There is confusion here between the terms " superior " and " landlord."
Jamieson, following Skene, derives here- zeld from Belg. here, heer, a lord or master, and yeild, a gift, tribute, or taxation ; but he holds that it was extended in Scotland to the imposition of landholders on their tenants. He adds, "The duty or gressoume (yrassum) payable, according to the tenor of" many modern leases, by every new successor to the lease, seems to be a relic of this custom." He calls it inhuman to tax a man's property "because of his paying the common tribute to nature," or taxing his heirs at the very time when a family had met with a severe loss. He quotes Sir David Lyndsay (' Satyre of the- Thrie Estaitis ') as follows :
We had ane meir, that caryit salt and coill,
And everie ilk yeir, scho brocht us liame ane foill,.
Wee had thrie ky, that was baith fat and fair,
Nane tydier into the toun of Air.
My father was sa waik of blude, and bane,
That he deit, quhairfoir my mother maid gret
maine ;
Then scho deit, within ane day or two ; And thair began my povertie and wo. Our gude gray mair was baittand on the feild,. And our land's laird tuik her, for his hyreild,. The vickar tuik the best cow be the heid, Incontinent, quhen my father was deid.
See Dr. David Laing's edition of Lyndsay V ' Poems,' Edinburgh, 1879, vol. ii. p. 102.
The 'New English Dictionary' defines lereyeld, herield, hyrald, hyreild, herrezeld, lerezeld, as :
"The render to the superior of the best living animal of a deceased vassal : at an early date commuted for a fixed money payment, and now practically obsolete. The same word as O.E. Jeregeld, used in Scotland in sense of Heriot."
This definition is incorrect, for, as I have shown, heriot or hereyeld was rendered not by
- he heir of a vassal to his superior, but by
he heir of a tenant to his landlord.
J. A. Edinburgh.
