Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776Reilly, S. A.
History
Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776
Reilly, S. A.
Law -- England -- History
Counterfeiting law required that "If any one be caught carrying
false coin, the reeve shall give the bad money to the King however much
there is, and it shall be charged in the render of his farm [payment]
as good, and the body of the offender shall be handed over to the King
for judgment, and the serjeants who took him shall have his clothes."
The forest law stated that: "he that doth hunt a wild beast and
doth make him pant, shall pay 10 shillings: If he be a freeman, then he
shall pay double. If he be a bound man, he shall lose his skin." A
"verderer" was responsible for enforcing this law, which also stated
that: "If anyone does offer force to a Verderer, if he be a freeman, he
shall lose his freedom, and all that he hath. And if he be a villein,
he shall lose his right hand." Further, "If such an offender does
offend so again, he shall lose his life."
A wife's dower is one-third of all her husband's freehold land,
unless his endowment of her at their marriage was less than one- third.
Debts to townsmen were recoverable by this law: "If a burgess
has a gage [a valuable object held as security for carrying out an
agreement] for money lent and holds this for a whole year and a day,
and the debtor will not deny the debt or deliver the gage, and this is
proved, the burgess may sell the gage before good witnesses for as much
as he can, and deduct his money from the sum. If any money is over he
shall return it to the debtor. But if there is not enough to pay him,
he shall take distress again for the amount that is lacking."
Past due rent in a borough was punishable by payment of 10s. as
fine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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