ATTORNMENT (from Fr. tourner, to turn)  , in English real property law, the acknowledgment of a new lord by the tenant on the alienation of land . Under the feudal system, the relations of landlord and tenant were to a certain extent reciprocal . So it was considered unreasonable to the tenant to subject him to a new lord without his own approval, and it thus came about that alienation could not take place without the consent of the tenant . Attornment was also extended to all cases of lessees for life or for years . The necessity for attornment was abolished by an act of 1705 . The term is now used to indicate an acknowledgment of the existence of the relationship of landlord and tenant . An attornment-clause, in mortgages, is a clause whereby the mortgagor attorns tenant to the mortgagee, thus giving the mortgagee the right to distrain, as an additional security .