Definition
Fogagium is a term from old English law denoting fog, or foggage — a coarse, rank variety of grass that grows late in the season and is left standing ungrazed through summer. The term refers both to the grass itself and, by extension, to the legal right or tenure associated with it. Fogagium was a recognized form of property interest in medieval English land law, distinct from hay (grass cut and dried) and from common pasture rights more generally.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "Fog" in agricultural contexts can refer to long grass left standing in a field after the main growth season — sometimes called "fog" or "foggage" in British dialectal and farming usage, meaning aftermath or winter grass.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Webster's 1913 defines "fog" (in agricultural sense) as "a second growth of grass; also, grass left standing in the field through winter."
The common and legal meanings are unusually close here, but the legal term carries additional weight: fogagium in law denotes not merely a type of grass but a cognizable property interest in that grass — one that could be held, granted, and distinguished from other land rights such as common of pasture or estovers.
Why It Matters in Research
Fogagium is an archaic feudal term unlikely to appear outside medieval land law sources and their scholarly commentaries. Researchers will encounter it primarily in treatises on English tenures, manorial records, and glossaries of obsolete legal vocabulary. Several navigational points are worth flagging:
Distinguish from common of pasture. Burrill's entry hints at a connection to the folc-mote and communal land distribution, suggesting fogagium intersected with communal rights but was conceptually separate from ordinary pasture rights, which were parcelled differently and subject to distinct legal rules.
The term is essentially dormant in modern law. No American jurisdiction retains fogagium as an operative legal category. Researchers encountering the term in historical documents — particularly manorial court rolls, conveyances, or pleadings from the medieval and early modern English period — should treat it as a descriptor of a specific agricultural land interest rather than a general property concept.
Spelling variations are common in historical sources. Medieval Latin orthography was inconsistent; researchers should search variant spellings (fogagium, fogagiam, fogagii) when working with primary sources.
The Burrill entry contains apparent transcription corruption ("old English thens and exactions, it might be held by freelaw..."), likely a scanning or typesetting artifact from an older edition. Researchers relying on digitized versions of Burrill should consult the original where the surrounding passage bears on the definition.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (both editions) and Burrill's Law Dictionary are in agreement on the core definition: fogagium is rank, late-growing grass not consumed during summer, distinguished from hay. Both editions of Black's cite Spelman and Cowell as authorities — Henry Spelman's Glossarium Archaiologicum and John Cowell's The Interpreter are the foundational sources for this term and should be consulted directly for fuller historical treatment.
Burrill adds a potentially significant comparative note distinguishing fogagium from hay (citing "Com. 549, 550," likely a reference to a digest or common law commentary), and gestures toward the connection between fogagium and communal land allocation through the folc-mote — though the surrounding text in the digitized Burrill entry is corrupted and must be read cautiously.
None of the historical dictionaries provide case law or statutory authority for fogagium, consistent with its status as a descriptive term for a type of property rather than a term of art with a formal legal test. Researchers should not expect to find judicial opinions construing the term; its legal life was in conveyancing and manorial administration.
Jurisdictional Note
Fogagium is exclusively a term of old English law. It has no operative application in any American, Commonwealth, or modern English jurisdiction. Its relevance is confined to the interpretation of historical English land documents, medieval legal records, and treatises on feudal tenure.