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
The manor court heard cases arising out of the unfree tenures
of the lord's vassals. It also heard distraint, also called "distress",
issues. Distraint was a landlord's method of forcing a tenant to
perform the services of his fief. To distrain by the fief, a lord first
obtained a judgment of his court. Otherwise, he distrained only by
goods and chattels without judgment of his court. A distraint was
merely a security to secure a person's services, if he agreed he owed
them, or his attendance in court, if he did not agree that he owed
them. Law and custom restricted the type of goods and chattels
distrainable, and the time and manner of distraint. For instance,
neither clothes, household utensils, nor a riding horse was
distrainable. The lord could not use the chattels taken while they were
in his custody. If cattle in custody were not accessible to the tenant,
the lord had to feed them at his expense. The lord, if he were not the
King, could not sell the chattel. This court also determined
inheritance and dower issues.
The court of the vill enforced the village ordinances. The
hundred court met twice a month and dealt with the petty crimes of
lowly men in the neighborhood of a few vills.
Franchise courts had jurisdiction given by special royal grant,
such as the Courts of the Chancellors of Oxford and Cambridge
Universities.
The peace of the sheriff still exists for his county. The
King's peace may still be specially given, but it will cease upon the
death of the King. Law required every good and lawful man to be bound
to follow the hue and cry when it was raised against an offender who
was fleeing. The village reeve was expected to lead the chase to the
boundary of the next jurisdiction, which would then take the
responsibility to catch the man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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