While Handy owned their land and they were beholden to pay taxes to him, he in return was obligated to guard their rights under force of law. And they had a lot of rights, not least of which was a very hard form of noblesse oblige, wherein poor harvests negated the need to pay taxes which were usually paid in tithes of the harvest itself. The tithe was levied to a certain level, with the remainder staying with the clansworn themselves to feed and to profit themselves come bumper harvests, which was good news for everybody. Come the bleak times however, he was responsible for housing and feeding them if they could not support themselves with what they had. Normally this would go without saying in a feudal relationship in the event of a disaster, but this meant that they had the right to impose upon their liege every time life got even a little bit tough.