19.—(II.)

Relief.—Relief which originated while feuds were only life estates, consisted of a fine or composition, paid to the lord by the heir, if of the full age of twenty-one years, when feuds became hereditary, for taking up the estate lapsed by the death of the ancestor or last tenant. In the time of Henry II. the relief for a whole knight's fee was fixed at 100 shillings, which, if the value of a knight's fee be understood to be land of £20 yearly value, would be at the rate of a fourth part of the yearly value ^r.