Definition
A feudal arrangement in French law under which the owner of land granted it to another person on the condition that the grantee would deliver to the owner a fixed share or portion of the crops produced on that land each year. The term describes both the arrangement itself and the landlord's right to receive that portion. Champart functioned as a form of agricultural rent paid in kind rather than in money — the landlord's compensation was a fraction of the harvest rather than a fixed payment.
The relationship was governed by bargain or local custom, and the crop-share owed could vary by region and agreement. The term was used in the feudal law of France and appears in English legal texts primarily in comparative and historical treatments of land tenure, not as a concept operative in English common law.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "The division of the produce of land, the right of the feudal lord."
Historical common usage (Webster's 1813): Not recorded as an English common word; treated as a French legal term throughout the period.
The Wiktionary definition captures the concept adequately but obscures the contractual or grant-based dimension. Champart was not simply a tax or an inherent feudal incident — it arose from a specific grant or bargain between landowner and cultivator. Researchers who treat it as a passive right of lordship, rather than as the product of an agreement, may misread its function in the sources.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
Champart was known in different regions of France and in different legal authorities by several alternative names, each reflecting local usage or emphasis:
Agreer — an alternative name appearing in French customary sources
Tasque — a variant term, emphasizing the share-based nature of the obligation
Terrage — the term used most prominently in Blackstone and in English treatments of French feudal law; describes the same crop-share concept with a focus on the land (terre) as the source of the obligation
These terms are not meaningfully distinct in legal effect; they are regional or authorial variants for the same arrangement. Researchers encountering any of these terms in French feudal or customary law sources should treat them as functional equivalents of champart.
Why It Matters in Research
Champart is a term of French feudal and agrarian law that migrates into English legal dictionaries primarily through Blackstone's Commentaries and comparative treatments of land tenure. Researchers should note several navigational points.
First, the term is not operative in English common law. When champart appears in English-language legal texts, it is almost always in a descriptive or comparative context — explaining how French feudal arrangements differed from English ones, or tracing the genealogy of rent and tenure concepts. Do not search for champart as a cause of action or a recognized legal right in English or American courts.
Second, the alternative names (agreer, tasque, terrage) fragment the historical record. A researcher tracing crop-share obligations in French customary law may need to search under all four names, depending on the region and era of the source material. Burrill's citation to Guyot's Institutions Féodales is the most useful pointer to the continental scholarship that treats these terms systematically.
Third, champart sits at the intersection of feudal land law and agricultural tenancy — two areas with distinct historiographies. Legal sources emphasize the tenure relationship; agrarian history sources emphasize the economic function of the crop share. Each body of literature may use the term differently. Researchers working on pre-Revolutionary French land law, or on the abolition of feudal dues in 1789, will find champart listed among the obligations formally extinguished by the early Revolutionary decrees.
Fourth, the Law Mind corpus likely surfaces champart most heavily in dictionary and encyclopedic entries and in comparative law treatises rather than in case reporters or statutes. Treat it as a research anchor for contextual understanding of French agrarian tenure rather than as a searchable doctrinal term.
Historical Dictionary Support
The four source dictionaries are in close agreement on the core meaning. Bouvier and Black's (2nd ed.) are essentially identical, defining champart as a grant of land conditioned on delivery of a portion of the crops, with both citing Toullier's treatise on French civil law. Burrill adds the most texture, identifying the alternative names (agreer, tasque, terrage) and locating the concept in Blackstone at 4 Commentaries 135, as well as in Guyot's institutional feudal law work — the most specific scholarly pointer among the four entries.
Black's 1st edition entry as reproduced in the source material is truncated ("In French law. The"), which limits its independent value here. The Burrill entry is the most complete and is the most useful starting point for a researcher seeking to trace the concept into the primary continental literature.
None of the historical dictionaries discuss the abolition of champart in the Revolutionary period, which is a significant omission for any researcher working on the history of French land reform. The dictionaries treat champart as a static doctrinal concept rather than as a legal institution with a historical arc.
Jurisdictional Note
Champart is a concept of French customary and feudal law with no direct equivalent in English common law or American law. It appears in English legal dictionaries as a comparative reference point, not as an actionable legal concept. Researchers working in Louisiana, where French civil law influenced early land tenure arrangements, may encounter related concepts, but champart itself is not a term of Louisiana law.