Infeudation

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) The granting of tithes to laymen.

(2): ( n.) The act of putting one in possession of an estate in fee.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

is a term in law for the placing in possession of a fee or freehold estate. It was used in ecclesiastical law to designate the granting of tithes to laymen, and the temporary possession by ecclesiastical associations of lay property. Pope Urban Viii, in the year 1625, declared himself against all infeudation, and made it null and void if thereafter contracted. See Aschbach, Kirchen- Lexikon, 3, 450.