narrow construction (Lord Selborne, Cory v. Burr, 1883, 8 App. Cas. 393, 395, and Lord Bramwell, ibid., 405); and "seizure" includes a forcible taking possession of a ship by African natives with the intention only of plundering the cargo and not of appropriating the ship (Johnston v. Hogg, 1883, 10 Q. B. D. 432, warranty "free from capture and seizure and consequences of any attempts thereat"). The words also cover all the consequential and necessary expenses of the capture and seizure, e.g. salvage for the recovery of the property (Berens v. Rucker, 1760, 1 Black. W. 313, money paid by way of compromise to captors after a preliminary decree of condemnation had been made); but not a ransom paid by the assured, which is illegal (Havelock v. Rockwood, 1799, 8 T. R. 268; Parsons v. Scott, 1810, 2 Taun. 363; 11 R. R. 610); but the words "consequences of hostilities" have been held not to include payments incurred owing to the vessel giving up a voyage and returning home under a power to that effect in the bill of lading, owing to outbreak of war (Nickels v. London and Provincial M. & G. I. C., 1900, 6 C. C. 15). In policies made during wartime with British underwriters, the risk of "capture and seizure" does not cover capture or seizure by the British Government in the case of a ship belonging to the country at war with Great Britain, for that would be an illegal contract (Furtado v. Rogers, 1802, 3 Bos. & Pul. 191; 6 R. R. 752; Driefontein Consolidated Mines v. Janson, [1900] 2 Q. B. 339; [1901] 2 K. B. 419; [1902] A. C. 484); though it may do so in the case of a British ship under these circumstances (Lubbock v. Potts, 1816, 7 East, 449; Arnould, Marine Insurance, 86). When the capture is the proximate cause of loss, it is immaterial that the capture was caused by a peril insured against, whether the underwriter is liable for capture or not (Arcangelo v. Thompson, 1811, 2 Camp. 620; 12 R. R. 758; Cory v. Burr, ante). See MARINE INSURANCE; Arnould, Marine Insurance, 7th ed., 1901, 903-905.

Fealty. In the system of feudalism, fealty was the bond by which the vassal or tenant was tied to the lord by his undertaking to be faithful to him, and was expressed in the oath of fealty, the profession of such fealty, faith, or fidelity made at the time of performing homage. Every lord could exact fealty and homage from his vassals, and fealty from his servants; and the oath of fealty became, and was in substance, the same as the ancient oath of allegiance (q.v.) made to the Sovereign by all men of the nation, whether landholders or landless; and, as regards the King, fealty and allegiance were practically identical, the former being the expression of the latter, and there being no superior to the King, in favour of whom any exception or saving of faith had to be reserved.

Fealty is one of the services which copyholders are bound to render to the lords of the manors in respect of their customary tenements; but it is usually now respited or commuted; and may be required upon every change of the lord or tenant; and, if refused, the lord may seize some property of the tenant, and detain it as a pledge, but cannot sell it as an ordinary distress. It cannot be done by attorney, the lord not being compellable to admit a tenant by attorney unless the fealty is respited.

Probably the fealty, as well as other payments not in the nature of rent, are not within the Statutes of Limitation.

[Authorities.-St. Bl. i., 11th ed., 178; ii. 414; iii. 443, 444; Stubbs, Const. Hist., iii. pp. 514, 515; Elton, Copyholds, 2nd. ed., pp. 196 and 219.]

Feasts (Fasts, Holidays).—The Prayer-Book of the Church of England contains a table of feasts to be observed in the Church throughout the year (see Introductory Rubric). The Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI. c. 3, "Holidays and Fasting Days," enacts that "all the days hereafter mentioned shall be kept and commanded to be kept holidays and no other." With the exception of the Conversion of St. Paul and St. Barnabus, the list which follows is identical with the one in the Prayer-Book. For these feasts there are appointed lessons, and also proper collects, epistles, and gospels, and in the case of great festivals, proper prefaces.

Sec. 7 of the above-mentioned Act provides that the Knights of the Garter may keep yearly the feast of St. George. The Act was repealed under Queen Mary, but re-enacted in the first year of King James the First. The Prayer-Book also gives a table of vigils, fasts, and days of abstinence to be observed.

Canon 72 of 1603 provides that no minister without the licence of the bishop is to appoint or keep any solemn fasts either publicly or in private houses.

The Acts as to fasting, 2 & 3 Edw. vi. c. 9; 5 & 6 Edw. vI. c. 3, s. 2; 5 Eliz. c. 5; 27 Eliz. c. 11; 35 Eliz. c. 7, are now repealed; but Lord Coke says, 3 Inst. p. 200, " Before the late Acts, the eating of flesh on Friday was punishable in the ecclesiastical Courts, as it yet is, the jurisdiction being saved by the said Acts." January 22, the day of the King's Accession, is now the only solemn day for which a particular service is appointed (see also SAINT and SAINTS' DAYS).

[Authorities.-Gibs. Cod.; Phillimore, Eccl. Law, 2nd ed.]

Fee, Base.-See BASE FEE.

Fee, Conditional.-See ESTATES.

Fee, Expectant.-See ESTATES.

Fee-Farm Rent.-A fee-farm rent is a rent that issues out of an estate in fee-simple, and is payable by the freeholder. It is sometimes used in the sense of a rent-charge payable as a consideration from purchaser to vendor. Cp. 2 Black, Com. 43: "A fee-farm rent is a rent issuing out of an estate in fee of at least one-fourth of the value of the lands at the time of its reservation; for a grant of lands reserving so considerable a rent is indeed only letting lands to farm in fee-simple, instead of the usual methods for life or years."

But the stricter meaning is a perpetual rent, and it is the duration not the quantity that is the distinctive feature. This is the true meaning of the term in the opinion of Mr. Hargrave (in his note to Co. Litt. s. 144a), who says, "The word fee-farm certainly imports every rent or service (whatever the quantum may be) which is reserved on a grant in fee;" and he ascribes the definition as to one-fourth value to the fact that it was usual (but only usual) on grants in fee-farm to reserve a rent of not less than a third or fourth of the value of the land. If fee-farm rent is to be confined strictly to rent service, it cannot be a rent service unless created before Quia emptores, or by a grant from the Crown. The two contrary opinions as to the meaning will be found respectively at length in the note to Co. Litt. above mentioned, and in

the reporters' note to Bradbury v. Wright, 1781, 2 Doug. 627, where the arguments on either side will be found collected. See further, IRELAND.

Fee - Simple and Fee-Tail.-See ESTATES OF IN

HERITANCE.

Feigned Action.-See FEIGNED ISSUES.

Feigned Issues.—Formerly many important questions were tried in the form of feigned issues, by stating that a wager was laid between two parties interested respectively in maintaining the affirmative and the negative of certain propositions. The trial of such issues was either authorised by Act of Parliament, as, for instance, by the now repealed Interpleader Act, 1 & 2 Will. iv. c. 58, s. 1, and by the Tithe Commutation Acts, 6 & 7 Will. iv. c. 71, s. 46; 2 & 3 Vict. c. 62, s. 35, or was directed by a Court of law or equity, or by a judge of one of the superior common law Courts in cases where some material fact was in dispute which was of too important a nature to be judged of summarily upon affidavits (see 2 Chitty on Pleading, 7th ed., p. 171; 1 Chitty's Archbold, 11th ed., p. 890).

Proceedings under feigned issues were practically abolished by 8 & 9 Vict. c. 109, s. 19, which, after reciting that the questions tried in the form of feigned issues might be as satisfactorily tried without such form, enacted that where any Court of law or equity desired to have any question of fact decided by a jury, such Court might direct a writ of summons to be sued out by such persons and against such persons as the Court should think ought to be plaintiffs and defendants respectively, wherein the one party should affirm and the other deny the facts in issue, and thereupon all proceedings should go on and be brought to a close in the same manner as was then practised in proceedings under a feigned issue.

Now, the proceedings in such cases are regulated by Order 34. r. 9, of the R. S. C., 1883, which provides that when the parties to a cause or matter are agreed as to the questions of fact to be decided between them, such questions may, by leave of the Court or a judge, be stated for trial in an issue in the form No. 15 in App. B. (which is similar to that provided by the last-mentioned Act), with such variations as circumstances may require.

Felo de se.-See COMMIT SUICIDE (Vol. III. p. 218); SUICIDE.

Felon; Felonious; Felony.-The derivation of these correlative terms is absolutely uncertain (Murray, Dict. Eng. Lang., s.v.).

The customary classification of crimes (i.e. pleas of the Crown) in English law is into treason, felony, and misdemeanor (Steph. Dig. Cr. Law, 6th ed., art. 15). It is a mediæval anachronism. Bracton, De Corona, ff. 145, 154, states that neither the sheriff nor the lord of a franchise (except under special grant) could take cognisance of charges laid against the peace of the King or as felonies (in felonia). This rule probably explains the presence in an indictment of the word "feloniously" and of the conclusion against the peace, etc. (hoc tangit personam ipsius domini regis et coronam suam).

Treason is sometimes called a felony (see 60 & 61 Vict. c. 18, s. 1), but has for centuries been kept distinct from ordinary felonies both as

to the mode of trial and as to the nature of the punishment. TREASON.

See

Piracy jure gentium was not a common-law offence, and could not therefore be felony (2 Steph. Hist. Cr. Law, 192), but certain forms of piracy have been declared felonies. See PIRACY.

The distinction between felony (felonia) and misdemeanor (transgressio contra pacem) is very ancient. All the offences classed in early times as felonies involved capital punishment as well as attainder and forfeiture, except petty larceny and mayhem, which came to be treated as misdemeanors (2 Steph. Hist. Cr. Law, 193; Hawk. P. C.; Burn's Justice, 17th ed., vol. iii. 116). So that in substance until 1837 felony was an offence punishable by death, with or without benefit of clergy. With the mitigation of punishments which was progressive from that date, the distinction between felony and misdemeanor is now rather of historical than practical importance, and it is now rare to create a new statutory felony. The latest instance is the felony of personation at elections, which may be committed where a registered elector votes twice in different districts of the same county in a county council election (35 & 36 Vict. c. 33, s. 24; 46 & 47 Vict. c. 51, s. 6 (2)). Historically considered, felony seems to have meant an act or offence by a feudal vassal which involved the loss or forfeiture of his fee. This definition is wide enough to include treason. With the disappearance of feudal tenures and seigniorial rights, and as to persons who had not the status of vassal, it came to mean any offence (except treason and misprision of treason) which on conviction was punishable by attainder and corruption of blood, and by forfeiture of lands or goods (4 Black. Com. 95). The forfeitures on conviction and attainder for felony ceased in 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 23). An offence is now felony, not by reason of its special punishment, but because that name is attached to it by common law or by the statute which creates it; and where a statute creates an offence and calls it a felony, this attaches to the offence all the common-law incidents of felony so far as not excluded by the terms of the enactment (Coalheaver's Case, 1768, 1 Leach, C. C. 61; Gray v. R., 1844, 11 Cl. & Fin. 427; 8 E. R. 1164; 65 R. R. 218).

The practical distinctions between felony and misdemeanor at the present time are—

1. That the powers with respect to arrest are larger in the case of felonies (see 1 Steph. Hist. Cr. Law, 193; and ARREST);

2. That a person indicted for felony is entitled peremptorily to challenge twenty of the jurors or the panel summoned for his trial (6 Geo. IV. c. 50, s. 29; 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 28, s. 3); and that to enable him to exercise this right the jurors are sworn singly instead of all at once as in misdemeanor;

3. That in the case of certain felonies (viz. murder and treasonfelony) the jurors cannot be permitted by the Court to separate during the trial (60 & 61 Vict. c. 18). See JURY;

4. That, as a general rule, two distinct felonies may not be tried together. If more than one is included in the same indictment the prosecutor is put to his election as to the charge upon which he will proceed. This rule is subject to certain exceptions, as to larceny, embezzlement, and receiving, and as to offences with explosives (24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, ss. 6, 71, 92; 46 & 47 Vict. c. 3, s. 7 (2)), and does not apply where the counts of the indictment merely charge in different ways the offence constituted by a particular transaction. In an indictment for burglary it has long been permitted also to charge larceny.

5. That peers accused of felony are entitled to be tried by their peers (see PEERAGE) (Earl Russell's Case, [1901] A. C. 446);

6. That the prosecution must be on indictment found by a grand jury, and cannot be by information as in misdemeanor, except in those cases in which summary jurisdiction over minor felonies is given to justices of the peace (42 & 43 Vict. c. 49);

7. That a new trial cannot be granted on a conviction for felony whether it is tried in the High Court or not. The authority for this is R. v. Bertrand, 1866, L. R. 1 P. C. 520; R. v. Murphy, 1869, L. R. 2 P. C. 535, in which the Judicial Committee dissented from the view of the Court of Queen's Bench in R. v. Scaife, 1852, 17 Q. B. 238;

8. That the costs of prosecuting all felonies (except treason-felony) are payable out of public funds (see COSTS, in Criminal Cases) and that all persons convicted of felony can be condemned to pay in relief of the public purse the whole or any part of the costs of their prosecution and conviction (33 & 34 Vict. c. 23, s. 3);

9. That the Court may award compensation to an amount not exceeding £100 by the felon for loss of property caused to the person damaged by felony (33 & 34 Vict. c. 23, s. 4);

10. That concealing a felon from justice is an offence of a more serious character than concealing a misdemeanant, if indeed the latter be an offence at all (see Arch. Cr. Pl., 23rd ed., 21, 1308);

11. That compounding a felony, i.e. agreeing for valuable consideration either not to prosecute or to stay or stifle a prosecution instituted, is a substantive misdemeanor (R. v. Burgess, 1885, 16 Q. B. D. 141). It is doubtful whether similar conduct as to a misdemeanor is a criminal offence (1 Steph. Hist. Cr. Law, 502; Arch. Cr. Pl., 23rd ed., 1089); but the agreement is void and unenforcable (Windhill Local Board v. Vint, 1890, 45 Ch. D. 351). See HUSH-MONEY; PROSECUTION;

12. That conviction of felony and sentence to death, or to penal servitude or to imprisonment with hard labour or for over twelve months, vacates any military or naval office or public employment under the Crown and pensions, unless a free pardon is obtained within two months of the conviction (33 & 34 Vict. c. 23), and disqualifies from the exercise of civil rights until the punishment has been suffered or a free pardon received.

Punishments. The punishment of felonies is now in all cases regulated by statute, either the Act creating the offence or that by which the death penalty is mitigated as to the particular offence, or in the case of felonies not otherwise dealt with by 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 28, ss. 8, 9; 1 Vict. c. 90, s. 5, as modified by the Penal Servitude Acts. The only felonies now punishable by death are murder (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 1), piracy with violence (1 Vict. c. 88, s. 2), and setting fire to dockyards and warships (12 Geo. III. c. 24). See CAPITAL FELONIES; CAPITAL PUNISHMENT; PREVIOUS CONVICTION.

Binding over to keep the peace or be of good behaviour, not an appropriate punishment while felonies were all capital, is now a recognised addition to the other statutory punishments under the Consolidation Acts of 1861; and in the case of a first offence the Court occasionally puts the offender under recognisance to come up for judgment if called. on (see Steph. Dig. Cr. Law, 6th ed., art. 18; and see RECOGNISANCE).

Where a felony is committed after a previous conviction of felony, the offender may be sentenced to penal servitude for life, except where the second offence is simple (not petty) larceny (7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 28,