Scutage - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition scutage

Definition :

Scutage, a tax or contribution raised by those that held lands by knight's service in commutation of such service towards furnishing the king's army, at the rate of one, two, or three marks for every knight's fee (obsolete long before 12 Car. 2, c. 24, which abolished the military tenure, Steph. Com., ii., Ch. on 'Tenures.' See ESCUAGE.

Means a monetary payment levied by the king or barons as a substitute for some or all of the knights to be supplied to the king by each baron, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1349