Lit. 'folk land'. A term which through its infrequency eludes precise definition. However, it is taken to indicate land which was not immune to the various rents and services owed for the king's maintenance. It was probably ordinary land, i.e. land held under common law, being restricted in terms of inheritance within the family or *alienation outside the family. Such land is remembered in placenames like Faulkland in Somerset and Falkland. -
Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases. Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams.