— Also termed knight’s service; (Scots law) ward holding. Cf. BASE SERVICE; SOCAGE; VILLEINAGE.
“By far the greater part of England is held of the king by knight’s service (per servitium militare): it is comparatively rare for the king’s tenants in chief to hold by any of the other tenures. In order to understand this tenure we must form the conception of a unit of military service. That unit seems to be the service of one knight or fully armed horseman (servitium unius militis) to be done to the king in his army for forty days in the year, if it be called for.” 1 Frederick Pollock & Frederic W. Maitland, The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I 254 (2d ed. 1898).
