(604) titii,) as well as bondmen, and all who were under the authority of one master, (dominus.) Bract. fol. 124 b, 171 b. Bracton uses the word in the original sense, as denoting servants or domestics. Id. ibid. A portion of land sufficient to maintain one family; sometimes called a hide of land, sometimes a manse, sometimes carucata or plough-land. Cowell. Spelman. Co. Litt. 69 a. See Hide. ( 605 ) of cultivation;-a tract of land, occupied in tillage, or used for cultivation, whether held of another, or owned by the occupant; -a tract of land, devoted to other purstock, &c. By the name of farme or ferm, in this sense of a tract of land, houses, lands and tenements might formerly pass; though this is not now its technical meaning in English law. Co. Litt. 5 a. See 1 Crabb's Real Prop. 69, § 87, cited supra, In wills, the word is still construed according to its popular signification. 2 Powell on Devises, (by Jarman,) 191. 1 Jarman on Wills, 713, (609, Perkins' ed.) et seq. A term in lands; that is, an estate granted for a definite period, as for life or years, (usually for years,) on payment of a rent; a lease of land; the estate or interest of a lessee; a leasehold interest in lands. "Pos-poses than cultivation, as to the raising of sessed of the farm of a manor." Dyer, 110. "40 l. for the farm and occupation of the said lands." 3 Leon. 159, case 106. Anciently written ferm, (L. Lat. firma.) In this sense, the word (firma) is constantly employed by Bracton. "To let for a ferm or farm," (ad firmam.) Bract. fol. 12 b. "For (to) farm, or for life:" (ad firmam, vel ad vitam.) Id. fol. 41. "He let to (for a) farm for a term of years;" (dimisit ad firmam ad terminum annorum.) Id. fol. 59. 66 Saving to the lessee (fermer or farmer,) his farm and term;" (salvo firmario firma et termino suo.) Id. fol. 166 b. 1 Reeves' Hist. Eng. Law, 301, note. Ferms and fermors are used in the statute of Marlbridge, c. 23, s. 2, in the sense of terms and lessees. 2 Inst. 145. Doct. & Stud. 233, 234. The old action of ejectione firma, was for ejecting one from his ferm or farm, that is, his term. See Ejectione firma. Hence the expression "to let to farm," that is, for a term. See To farm let, Firma. This has continued to be the proper technical meaning of the word farm in English law, viz.: a term, a lease or leasehold estate; that which is held by a person standing in the relation of tenant to a landlord. Bro. Abr. Grants, 135. 2 Chitty's Bl. Com. 17, note. 6 Term R. 353. 1 Crabb's Real Prop. 69, § 87. In American law, farm denotes a tract of land devoted in part, at least, to cultivation, without reference to its extent, or to the tenure by which it is held. 2 Binney's R. 238. As to what passes by the word farm, see 5 Pick. R. 512. 18 Id. 553. 6 Metcalf's R. 529. 4 Greenleaf's R. 14. 2 Hilliard's Real Prop. 338, 343, 345. In old English law. Any other thing than land, which is held in lease. Dyer, C. J. Plowd. 195. See infra. **The present meaning of the word farm is very properly termed by Sir Wm. Blackstone, the result of "a gradual departure from the original sense;" its successive gradations of meaning appearing from the definitions above given, viz.: provisions,- rent paid in provisions,-rent paid in money, or generally, a term in lands, held on rent,-land itself, held for a term and rent,-land held or hired for a term, for cultivation, any land used for cultivation, whether hired or owned. By this process, the idea of cultivation has become the prominent one in the modern acceptation of the term; so much so, indeed, as to give rise to the modern words now in common use; "to farm," to cultivate land; "farming," the business of cultivation. In England, however, the ideas of a lease, a term, and a rent, continue to be in a great degree inseparable, even from the popular meaning of a farm, as they are entirely so from the legal sense. The ordinary expression "to farm out," is an instance of the perpetuation of the same meaning. Land itself, let and held for a term on payment of rent, (ipsum prædium elocatum.) 2 Bl. Com. 318. Spelman, voc. Firma. Gilb. Rents, 2. "Sheep upon a farm." 1 Leon. 41.-A capital or chief messuage in a vill or town, with great demesnes belonging to it, that has been let or demised to another for life, for years or at will. Dyer, C. J. Plowd. 195. Termes de la Ley. Cowell.-In more modern language, a large tract or portion of land taken by a lease under a yearly rent, payable by the tenant. Tomlins. In this sense, farm is a collective word, consisting of many things, as a messuage, lands, meadows, pastures, woods, and other things appertaining thereto. Id. Plowd. ub. sup. That rents were originally and generally Hence the common or popular significareserved and paid for in provisions, (feorme,) tions of the term, now prevalent in England is very clearly shown by Spelman from the and America, a tract of land, with suitaBlack Book of the Exchequer, Domesday ble buildings, &c., taken, or hired for a cerBook, and other ancient sources. The tain term, at a certain rent, for the purposes gradations of meaning from this primitive