SEIGNORY, or Seigniory, is the relation of the lord of a fee or a manor to his tenant. There is no land in England without its lord: “Nulle terre sans seigneur” is the old feudal maxim. Where no other lord can be discovered the crown is lord as lord paramount. The principal incidents of a seignory were fealty and rent-service. In return for these privileges the lord was liable to forfeit his rights if he neglected to protect and defend the tenant or did anything injurious to the feudal relation. Every seignory now existing must have been created before the Statute of Quia Emptores, which forbade the future creation of estates in fee-simple by subinfeudation (see Real Estate). The only seignories of any importance at present are the lordships of manors. They are regarded as incorporeal hereditaments, and are either appendant or in gross. A seignory appendant passes with the grant of the manor; a seignory in gross—that is, a seignory which has been severed from the demesne lands of the manor to which it was originally appendant—must be specially conveyed by deed of grant.