common law – The feudal land law

The feudal land law

During the critical formative period of common law, the English economy depended largely on department of agriculture, and bring was the most important form of wealth. A money economy was important only in commercial centres such as London, Norwich, and Bristol. political exponent was rural and based on landownership.

Land was held under a chain of feudal relations. Under the king came the aristocratic “ tenants in head, ” then level of “ mesne, ” or intermediate tenants, and ultimately the tenant “ in domain, ” who actually occupied the place. Each musical composition of state was held under a particular discipline of tenure—that is, in return for a certain service or payment. An arm knight, for example, might have to be provided to serve for a certain period each year. Periodic services tended to be commuted into repair annual payments, which, under the affect of inflation, ceased to have much value over time. The “ incidents, ” or contingency rights, however, were assessed at current land value and remained crucial. For exemplar, the feudal lord had the right to take a tenant ’ sulfur down if he died without heirs ; if he did have heirs, the lord was entitled to recompense for exercising wardship and granting license to marry ( see wardship and marriage ). succession to tenancies was regulated by a system of different “ estates, ” or rights in land, which determined the duration of the tenant ’ s pastime. Land held in “ tip simpleton ” meant that any heir could inherit ( that is, succeed to the occupancy ), whereas land held in “ tip tail ” could pass only to direct descendants. Life estates ( tenancies lasting lone for one person ’ sulfur life ) could besides be created. title to nation was transferred by a formal ritual rather than by act ; this provided publicity for such transactions. Most of the rules governing the terms by which bring was held were developed in local godhead ’ s courts, which were held to manage the estates of the lord ’ s immediate tenants. The emergence of better remedies in the King ’ randomness Court during the late twelfth hundred led to the elaboration and standardization of these rules, which marked the effective lineage of the common law.

The yard of change in the thirteenth century led to the passage of statutes to regulate matters of detail. The life tenant, for model, was forbidden in the thirteenth hundred to use the property in such a direction as to damage it or to cause it to deteriorate unless the concede specifically allowed it, and the tenant “ in dock ” was forbidden to ignore the system of descent laid down for his property. Because a significant proportion of disputes in the common-law courts were related to the occupation of estate, the land law was the earliest area of law to elaborate a detailed determine of substantive rules, finally summarized in the first “ casebook ” of English jurisprudence, Littleton ’ sulfur Tenures, written by Sir Thomas Littleton and in the first place published in 1481. primogeniture —i.e., the right of sequence of the eldest son—became feature of the coarse police. It was designed entirely for knight-service tenures but was inappropriately extended to all domain. This contrasted with the widespread practice on the continent, whereby all children inherited equal shares.

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