Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776: June 2011 (Sixth) EditionReilly, S. A.
History
Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776: June 2011 (Sixth) Edition
Reilly, S. A.
Law -- England -- History
Goods which could only be sold by the standard weights and measures
(such as ounces, pounds, gallons, bushels) included sacks of wool,
leather, skins, ropes, glass, iron, lead, canvas, linen cloth, tallow,
spices, confections cheese, herrings, sugar, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg,
wheat, barley, oats, bread, and ale. The prices required for bread and
ale were based on the market price for the wheat, barley, and oats from
which they were made.
The punishment for repeated violations of required measures, weights,
or prices of bread and ale by a baker or brewer; selling of spoiled or
unwholesome wine, meat, fish by brewers, butchers, or cooks; or a
steward or bailiff receiving a bribe was reduced to placement in a
pillory with a shaven head so that these men would still be fit for
military service and not overcrowd the gaols.
Forest penalties were changed so that "No man shall lose either life or
member [limb] for killing of our deer. But if any man be taken and
convicted for taking our venison, he shall make a grievous fine, if he
has anything. And if he has nothing to lose, he shall be imprisoned for
a year and a day. And after that, if he can find sufficient sureties, he
shall be delivered, and, if not, he shall abjure the realm of England."
The Forest Charter provided that: Every freeman may allow his pigs to
eat in his own wood in the King's forest. He may also drive his pigs
through the King's forest and tarry one night within the forest without
losing any of his pigs. But people having greyhounds must keep them out
of the forest so they don't maim the deer.
The Forest Charter also allowed magnates traveling through the King's
forest on the King's command to come to him, to kill one or two deer as
long as it was in view of the forester if he was present, or while
having a horn blown, so it did not seem to be theft.
After a period of civil war, the following statutes were enacted:
"All persons, as well of high as of low estate, shall receive justice in
the King's Court; and none shall take any such revenge or distress by
his own authority, without award of our court, although he is damaged or
injured, whereby he would have amends of his neighbor either higher or
lower." The penalty is a fine according to the trespass.
A fraudulent conveyance to a minor or lease for a term of years made to
defraud a Lord of a wardship shall be void. A Lord who maliciously and
wrongfully alleges this to a court shall pay damages and costs.
If a Lord will not render unto an heir his land when he comes of age or
takes possession away from an heir of age or removes anything from the
land, he shall pay damages. (The king retained the right to take
possession of an heir's land for a year or, in lieu of this, to take one
year's profit from the land in addition to the relief.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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