Definition
A Latin term from feudal and old English law. Pastus denotes the procuration or provision—typically in the form of food, lodging, or sustenance—that tenants were obligated to furnish to their lord at specified times, or whenever the lord made a progress (formal tour or visitation) to the lands they held. In practice, the obligation was frequently commuted into a monetary payment rather than actual physical provisioning.
The term derives from the Latin pascere, to feed, and appears in English legal sources chiefly in the compound form pastus canum (feeding of dogs), referring to the obligation of certain tenants to maintain their lord's hunting dogs.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): No standard English entry. Pastus is a Latin participial form meaning "fed" or "having grazed."
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Not listed as an English word.
Editorial note: Pastus entered English legal vocabulary as an untranslated Latin term of art. Its legal meaning—a feudal provisioning obligation—has no counterpart in ordinary modern usage and should not be inferred from the general Latin sense of "feeding" alone, which understates both the obligatory character of the duty and its capacity for monetary conversion.
Why It Matters in Research
Pastus surfaces almost exclusively in feudal tenure materials and early English legal treatises. Researchers encountering the term in historical documents should understand three things.
First, the obligation it describes belongs to the cluster of services and dues associated with purveyance and procuration. Medieval lords routinely demanded hospitality during circuits of their estates, and pastus was the legal label for that demand when owed by tenure. Its commutation into money payments is part of the broader story of feudal incidents being monetized through the medieval and early modern periods—a pattern documented in sources such as Fleta and Bracton.
Second, the compound pastus canum is the form most likely to appear in specific pleading records and custumals. Burrill cites Fleta (lib. 2, c. 82, § 5) as the primary source for this usage. Researchers working in early English manorial records or Year Book materials should treat pastus canum as a distinct obligation, tied to the lord's hunt rather than to general household provisioning.
Third, Rapalje & Lawrence does not contain a substantive entry for pastus—the relevant page in that source addresses "passing" entries—so researchers consulting that dictionary for this term will come away empty-handed. Reliance on Black's and Burrill is appropriate.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (both the first and second editions) gives nearly identical definitions, focusing on the provisioning obligation owed during a lord's progress and noting the frequent conversion to money. This framing correctly situates pastus within the law of feudal services and procuration, but neither edition cross-references the specific pastus canum variant or the Fleta authority.
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the more granular treatment. By tracing pastus to pascere and citing Fleta directly for pastus canum, Burrill anchors the term in its primary textual source and distinguishes between the general hospitality obligation and the specific dog-maintenance duty. Researchers should prefer Burrill as the starting point for primary source navigation on this term.
No historical dictionary in the Law Mind corpus addresses the later fate of pastus obligations after the abolition of feudal tenures in England (Statute of Tenures, 1660), an omission worth noting: the term's practical legal significance did not survive that legislative watershed, and any appearance in post-1660 English legal materials is likely historical or antiquarian in character.
Jurisdictional Note
Pastus as an operative legal obligation was specific to English feudal tenure and did not develop as a distinct doctrine in American law. American legal dictionaries carry it as a historical term only. Researchers in Scottish or continental feudal sources may encounter cognate terms under different labels.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Feudal Tenures; Procuration; Purveyance.