fine for alienation

Fine \Fine\ (f[imac]n), n. [OE. fin, L. finis end, also in LL.,
   a final agreement or concord between the lord and his vassal;
   a sum of money paid at the end, so as to make an end of a
   transaction, suit, or prosecution; mulct; penalty; cf. OF.
   fin end, settlement, F. fin end. See {Finish}, and cf.
   {Finance}.]
   1. End; conclusion; termination; extinction. [Obs.] "To see
      their fatal fine." --Spenser.
      [1913 Webster]

            Is this the fine of his fines?        --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A sum of money paid as the settlement of a claim, or by
      way of terminating a matter in dispute; especially, a
      payment of money imposed upon a party as a punishment for
      an offense; a mulct.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Law)
      (a) (Feudal Law) A final agreement concerning lands or
          rents between persons, as the lord and his vassal.
          --Spelman.
      (b) (Eng. Law) A sum of money or price paid for obtaining
          a benefit, favor, or privilege, as for admission to a
          copyhold, or for obtaining or renewing a lease.
          [1913 Webster]

   {Fine for alienation} (Feudal Law), a sum of money paid to
      the lord by a tenant whenever he had occasion to make over
      his land to another. --Burrill.

   {Fine of lands}, a species of conveyance in the form of a
      fictitious suit compromised or terminated by the
      acknowledgment of the previous owner that such land was
      the right of the other party. --Burrill. See {Concord},
      n., 4.

   {In fine}, in conclusion; by way of termination or summing
      up.
      [1913 Webster]
    

FINE FOR ALIENATION. During the vigor of the feudal law, a fine for 
alienation was a sum of money which a tenant by knight's service paid to his 
lord for permission to alienate his right in the estate he held, to another, 
and by that means to substitute a new tenant for himself. 2 Bl. Com. 71, But 
when the tenant held land of the king, in capite, by socage tenure, he was 
bound to pay such a fine, as well as in the case of knight service. 2 Bl. 
Com. 89. These fines are now abolished. In France, a similar demand from the 
tenant, made by the lord when the former alienated his estate, was called 
lods et vente. This imposition was abolished, with nearly every feudal 
right, by the French revolution.