“ In feudal law the term is applied to the practice of a freeman placing himself under the protection of a lord (see Feudalism) , and in ecclesiastical law to the granting of benefices in commendam. A benefice was held in commendam when granted either temporarily until a vacancy was filled up, or to a layman, or, in case of a monastery or abbey, to a secular cleric to enjoy the revenues and privileges for life (see Abbot) , or to a bishop to hold together with his see. An act of 1836 prohibited the holding of benefices in commendam in England. ”