Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

chevage

[fr. French chef "head"] Hist. An annual tribute payment from a villein to a lord. a Chevage was commonly exacted from villeins for permission to marry or permission to work outside a lord's domain. -Also spelled chivage; chiefage."Cheuage, (cheuagium) commeth of the French (chefi. caput). It signifieth with us, a summe of money paid by villeins to their Lords, in acknowledgment of their slaverie .... It seemeth also to be used, for a summe of a mony, yearely given by a man to another of might & power, for his avowement, maintenance, and protection, as to their head or leader." John Cowell, The Interpreter (1607).