In subsequent legislation Edward took care to conciliate the baronage by strengthening not only his rights over them, but their rights over their vassals. The most important of these was "_escheat_," the right of resuming possession of land when its holder died without an heir. This right was always liable to be defeated by the tenant selling his land; and its value was yet more diminished if he could dispose of part of the land, in such a way that the buyer became his own sub-tenant. A clause in Magna Charta had restricted this process, but the barons wished to limit even more their tenants' power of parting with land. On the other hand, as society became more industrial, and less warlike, it became more desirable that land should pass freely from man to man These conflicting interests resulted in two enactments, which are landmarks in English History. The first, the _Second Statute of Westminster_, contains the famous clauses '_De Donis Conditionalibus_.' It forbade the alienation of land granted to a person and his actual lineal descendants, or to use a modern phrase, it made possible the creation of perpetual entails. The barons soon saw that it enabled them to settle their lands on their own families, and it was regularly employed for this purpose for about 200 years, till at last a legal fiction was invented which greatly cut down the power of tying up land. [Sidenote: =The statute "Quia Emptores."=] On the other hand, the statute _Quia Emptores_ (1290), far from restricting the power of alienation, expressly allowed it in all cases not coming within the statute _De Donis_: but at the same time it enacted that the purchaser, whether of the whole or part of an estate, should become the tenant, not of the seller, but of the seller's lord; in other words, it put an end to subinfeudation. This led, in the end, to the enormous multiplication of the lesser vassals of the crown, and tended to the ultimate extinction of all subtenancies, so that the king was the gainer in the long run, since whenever a great estate was broken up, he became the immediate lord of all those among whom it was dispersed. [Sidenote: =The Statute of Winchester.=] Besides the great statutes we have already named, several other items of King Edward's legislation demand a word of notice. _The Statute of Winchester_ (1285) reorganized the national militia, the descendant of the old fyrd, ordaining what arms each man, according to his rank and wealth, should furnish for himself. It also provided for the establishment of a _watch_ or local police for the suppression of robbers and outlaws. [Sidenote: =Expulsion of the Jews.=]