fief
    n 1: a piece of land held under the feudal system [syn: fief,
         feoff]

Fief \Fief\, n. [F. fief; of German origin, and the same word as
   E. fee. See Fee, and cf. Feud, a tief.] (Law)
   An estate held of a superior on condition of military
   service; a fee; a feud. See under Benefice, n., 2.
   [1913 Webster]

FIEF, or FEUD. In its origin, a fief was a district of country allotted to 
one of the chiefs who invaded the Roman empire, as a stipend or reward; with 
a condition annexed that the possessor should do service faithfully both at 
home and in the wars, to him by whom it was given. The law of fiefs supposed 
that originally all lands belonged to lords, who had had the generosity to 
abandon them to others, from whom the actual possessors derive their rights 
upon the sole reservation of certain services more or less onerous as a sign 
of superiority. To this superiority was added that which gives the right of 
dispensing justice, a right which was originally attached to all fiefs, and 
conferred upon those who possessed it, the most eminent part of public 
power. Henrion de Pansey, Pouvoir, Municipal; 2 Bl. Com. 45 
Encyclopedie, h.t.; Merl. Rep. h.t.