(fidelitas), in Feudal Law, denotes the oath taken by a tenant on his entry, to be true and faithful to the lord of whom he holds his land. Fealty bound the tenant to fidelity, the breach of which was the loss of his fee. All lands being held either mediately or immediately of the crown, fealty is commonly divided into general and special; the former, that due by a subject to his sovereign the latter, that which is due by a tenant to his immediate superior. Fealty is incident to every manner of tenure except tenures at will and frank-almoign, though it chiefly belongs to copyhold estates held in fee and for life. The law as to fealty continues unchanged, though the oath of fealty is now rarely or never exacted.