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
Nuisance is recognized by this statute: "Every freeman, without
danger, shall make in his own wood, or in his land, or in his water,
which he has within our Forest, mills, springs, pools, clay pits,
dikes, or arable ground, so that it does not annoy any of his
neighbors."
Anyone taking a widow's dower after her husband's death must
not only return the dower, but pay damages in the amount of the value
of the dower from the time of death of the husband until her recovery
of seisin.
Widows may bequeath the crop of their ground as well of their
dowers as of their other lands and tenements.
Freeholders of tenements on manors shall have sufficient
ingress and egress from their tenements to the common pasture and as
much pasture as suffices for their tenements.
"Grain shall not be taken under the pretense of borrowing or
the promise of after-payment without the permission of the owner."
"A parent or other who forcefully leads away and withholds, or
marries off, an heir who is a minor (under 14), shall yield the value
of the marriage and be imprisoned until he has satisfied the king for
the trespass. If an heir 14 years or older marries without his Lord's
permission to defraud him of the marriage and the Lord offers him
reasonable and convenient marriage, without disparagement, then the
Lord shall hold his land beyond the term of his age, that, of twenty
one years, so long that he may receive double the value of the marriage
as estimated by lawful men, or after as it has been offered before
without fraud or collusion, and after as it may be proved in the King's
Court. Any Lord who marries off a ward of his who is a minor and cannot
consent to marriage, to a villain or other, such as a burgess, whereby
the ward is disparaged, shall lose the wardship and all its profits if
the ward's friends complain of the Lord. The wardship and profit shall
be converted to the use of the heir, for the shame done to him, after
the disposition and provision of his friends." (The "marriage" could be
annulled by the church.)
"If an heir of whatever age will not marry at the request of
his Lord, he shall not be compelled thereunto; but when he comes of
age, he shall pay to his Lord the value of the marriage before
receiving his land, whether or not he himself marries."
"Interest shall not run against any minor, from the time of
death of his ancestor until his lawful age; so nevertheless, that the
payment of the principal debt, with the interest that was before the
death of his ancestor shall not remain."
The value of debts to be repaid to the king or to any man shall
be reasonably determined by the debtor's neighbors and not by
strangers. A debtors' plough cattle or sheep cannot be taken to satisfy
a debt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account