Definition:
A kind of land tenure -- a legal means of holding land -- that required an annual payment instead of work or military service. In theory, socage might require payments of produce, but most often, it required cash payments -- a quitrent. In 1660, Parliament had passed the Statute of Tenures, which converted all land tenures to socage. "Free and common" socage simply means that the recipient of the headright grant is free to do with his land what he pleases.
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