Book: Our Legal Heritage, 4th Ed.

S >> S. A. Reilly >> Our Legal Heritage, 4th Ed.




There was a recoinage due to debasement of the old coinage. This
increased the number of coins in circulation. The price of wheat
went from about 7s. in 1270 to about 5s. per quarter in 1280. Also
the price of an ox went from 14s. to 10s. Then there were broad
movements of prices, within which there were wide fluctuations,
largely due to the state of the harvest. From 1280 to 1290, there
was runaway inflation. In some places, both grain and livestock
prices almost doubled between 1305 and 1310. Wheat prices peaked
at 15s.5d. a quarter in the famine year of 1316. In 1338, prices
dropped and remained low for twenty years. The poor were hurt by
high prices and the lords of the manors were hurt by low prices.

As before, inadequate care and ignorance of nutrition caused many
infant deaths. Accidents and disease were so prevalent that death
was always near and life insecure. Many women died in childbirth.

In the 1300s, there were extremes of fashion in men's and women's
clothing including tight garments, pendant sleeves down to the
ground, coats so short they didn't reach the hips or so long they
reached the heels, hoods so small they couldn't cover the head,
and shoes with long curved peaks like claws at the toes. Both men
and women wore belts low on the hips. The skirt of a lady's tunic
was fuller and the bodice more closely fitted than before. Her
hair was usually elaborately done up, e.g. with long curls or
curled braids on either side of the face. A jeweled circlet was
often worn around her head. Ladies wore on their arms or belts,
cloth handbags, which usually contained toiletries, such as combs
made of ivory, horn, bone, or wood, and perhaps a little book of
devotions. A man wore a knife and a bag on his belt. Some women
painted their faces and/or colored their hair. There were hand-
held glass mirrors. Some people kept dogs purely as pets.

There was a great development of heraldic splendor with for
instance, crests, coat-armor, badges, pennons [long, triangular
flag], and helmets. They descended through families. Not only was
it a mark of service to wear the badge of a lord, but lords wore
each other's badges by way of compliment.

Edward I always sought the agreement of Parliament before
assembling an army or taking actions of war, and Parliamentary
consent came to be expected for such. He completed the conquest
and annexation of Wales in 1284. The feudal army was summoned for
the last time in the 100 year war with France, which began in
1337. In it the English longbow was used to pierce French knights'
armor. There had been much competition between the strength of
arrows to pierce and the heaviness of armor to resist. Guns and
cannon with gunpowder were introduced in 1338. A system to raise
an army by contract was developed. Contracts were made with
nobles, knights, or esquires who undertook to enlist an agreed
number of armored men-at-arms and archers, who were paid wages.
The King provided transport for each contractor and his retinue,
baggage, and horses. The title of "knight" now resumed its
military character as well as being a social rank.

After Edward I died in 1307, there was a period of general
lawlessness and contests for power between earls and barons and
the irresponsible King Edward II, who was not a warrior king. He
eventually was assassinated. Also in 1307, Parliament required the
king to obtain its consent for any exchange or alteration of the
currency.

By 1319, the guilds of London had become so powerful that they
extracted a charter from the king that to be a citizen of London
one had to be a member of a guild.

By 1326, scholars, the nobility, and the clergy had reading
eyeglasses, which had been invented in Italy, probably by the
glass blowers. Italy was famous for its glasswork. The first
eyeglasses were fabricated by pouring molten glass into curved
molds. The actual shape was difficult to control because thermal
expansion and contraction resulted in bubbles and other optical
imperfections.

As of 1336, importing foreign cloth or fur, except for use by the
King's family, was prohibited, as was the export of unwoven wool.
Later, this was relaxed and a customs tax of 33% was imposed on
wool exported.

Foreign cloth-workers were allowed by statute to come to live in
the nation, be granted franchises, and be in the King's
protection. But no cloth was to be exported until it was fulled.
During the reign of Edward III, Flanders weavers were encouraged
to come to England to teach the English how to weave and finish
fine cloth. A cloth industry grew with all the manufacturing
processes under the supervision of one capitalist manufacturer,
who set up his enterprise in the country to avoid the regulations
of the towns. The best places were hilly areas where there were
many streams and good pasture for flocks of sheep. He hired
shearers to cut the nap as short as possible to give a smooth
surface, then spinsters to card and spin the wool in their country
cottages, then weavers, and then fullers and dyers to come to
fulling mills established near streams for their waterpower.
Fulling became mechanized as heavy wooden hammers run by water-
power replaced feet trampling the cloth covered with soap or
fuller's clay. The shaft loom was a technological advance in
weaving. This loom was horizontal and its frames, which controlled
the lifting of the warp threads, could each be raised by a foot
treadle. This left both hands free to throw and catch the shuttle
attached to the weft thread from side to side through the warp.
Also many more weaving patterns became possible through the use of
different thread configurations on the frames.

In 1341, the commons forced King Edward III and council to approve
their petition when Parliament was still in session so that they
would draft the legislation in true accordance with the petition.
This had not been done when drafting had been done after
Parliament ended, when the phrase "saving the prerogatives of the
king" was often added. Also the lords and commons consulted each
other and joined in petitions. But they usually stated their
conclusions to the king separately. It was considered a burden
rather than a privilege to attend Parliament and elections for
such were not often contested. They were conducted according to
local custom until 1600.

In 1348, the Commons voted a tax of 1/15th on moveables for three
years with the proviso that it be spent only on the war against
Scotland. This began the practice of appropriation of funds. In
1381, began the practice of appointing treasurers of the subsidies
to account to Parliament for both receipts and disbursements.

Alien merchants wree under the king's special protection. In
return for paying extra import and export duties, Edward III gave
alien merchants full rights of trade, travel, and residence in
England free of all local tolls and restrictions, and guaranteed a
fair hearing of their commercial and criminal cases in special pie
powder (after French "pie poudrous" or dusty feet) courts at
fairs.



- The Law -

Edward I remodeled the law in response to grievances and to
problems which came up in the courts. The changes improved the
efficiency of justice and served to accommodate it to the changing
circumstances of the social system. These statutes were:

"No man by force of arms, malice or menacing shall disturb
anyone in making free election [of sheriffs, coroners,
conservators of the peace by freeholders of the county]."

"No city, borough, town, nor man shall be amerced without
reasonable cause and according to the severity of his
trespass. That is, every freeman saving his freehold, a
merchant saving his merchandise, a villein saving his
waynage [implements of agriculture], and that by his peers."

No distress shall be taken of ploughing-cattle or sheep.

Young salmon shall not be taken from waters in the spring.

No loan shall be made for interest.

If an heir who is a minor is married off without the consent
of the guardian, the value of the marriage will be lost and
the wrongdoer imprisoned. If anyone marries off an heir over
14 years of age without the consent of the guardian, the
guardian shall have double the value of the marriage.
Moreover, anyone who has withdrawn a marriage shall pay the
full value thereof to the guardian for the trespass and make
amends to the King. And if a lord refuses to marry off a
female heir of full age and keep her unmarried because he
covets the land, then he shall not have her lands more than
two years after she reaches full age, at which time she can
recover her inheritance without giving anything for the
wardship or her marriage. However, if she maliciously
refuses to be married by her lord, he may hold her land and
inheritance until she is the age of a male heir, that is, 21
years old and further until he has taken the value of the
marriage.

Aid to make one's son a knight or marry off his daughter of
a whole knight's fee shall be taken 20s., and 400s.[yearly
income from] land held in socage 20s. [5%], and of more,
more; and of less, less; after the rate. And none shall levy
such aid to make his son a knight until his son is 15 years
old, nor to marry his daughter until she is seven year old.

A conveyance of land which is the inheritance of a minor
child by his guardian or lord to another is void.

Dower shall not abate because the widow has received dower
of another man unless part of the first dower received was
of the same tenant and in the same town. But a woman who
leaves her husband for another man is barred from dower.

A tenant for a term of years who has let land from a
landlord shall not let it lie waste, nor shall a landlord
attempt to oust a tenant for a term of years by fictitious
recoveries.

When two or more hold wood, turfland, or fishing or other
such thing in common, wherein none knows his several, and
one does waste against the minds of the others, he may be
sued.

Lands which are given to a man and his wife upon condition
that if they die without heirs, the land shall revert to the
donor or his heir, may not be alienated to defeat this
condition.

If a man takes land in marriage with a wife, and she dies
before him, the land will revert to the donor or his heir,
unless the couple has a child, in which case the husband
will have the land by the courtesy of the nation for his
life before it reverts to the donor or his heir.

The ecclesiastical law had a doctrine for women-covert, i.e.
women under the protection or coverture of a husband. It
held that chattels of a woman who married vested in her
husband, but he could not dispose of them by will. Her
jewelry, but not her apparel, could go to his creditors if
his assets didn't cover his debts. If she was a merchant
when she married, she could still sell her goods in the open
market. The husband also had the right to the rents and
profits from his wife's real estate, but not the real estate
itself, unless by the birth of a child he became tenant for
life by courtesy. Only the father, but not the mother had
authority over their children. A father had a right to his
child's services, and could sue a third party for abducting,
enticing away, or injuring the child, just as he could for
his servants. A husband was liable for the debts of his
wife, even if incurred before the marriage. He was
answerable for her torts and trespasses, except for battery.
For this reason, he was allowed to chastise her, restrain
her liberty for gross misbehavior, and punish her by beating
for some misdemeanors. But the courts would protect her from
death, serious bodily harm, or his failure to supply her the
necessities of life. Promises under oath were not recognized
for married women. A conveyance or agreement of a married
woman was void. These principles held only if she was under
the protection of her husband, i.e. a woman-covert, and not
if they lived separately, for instance if he went to sea. If
separated, she had a right to alimony from him to maintain
herself.

A free tenant may alienate his land freely, but if the
alienation was for an estate in fee simple [to a man and his
heirs], the person acquiring the land would hold of the
land's lord and not of the person alienating the land. (This
halted the growth of subinfeudation and caused services as
well as incidents of aids, relief, escheat, wardship, and
marriage to go directly to the Chief Lord. It also
advantaged the Crown as overlord, which then acquired more
direct tenants.)

One may create an estate which will descend in unbroken
succession down the line of inheritance prescribed in the
original gift as long as that line should last, instead of
descending to all heirs. This was called a fee simple
conditional holding of land. The successive occupants might
draw the rents and cut the wood, but on the death of each,
his heir would take possession of an unencumbered interest,
unfettered by any liability for the debt of his ancestor or
by any disposition made by him during his lifetime e.g. a
wife's estate in dower or a husband's estate in courtesy. If
there was no issue, it reverted to the original donor. (This
curtailed the advantage of tenants of the greater barons who
profited by increased wardships and reliefs from
subinfeudation from subdivision and better cultivation of
their land while still paying the greater barons fixed sums.
This statute that protected reversionary estates
incidentally established a system of entails. This new
manner of holding land: "fee tail", is in addition to the
concepts of land held in fee simple (i.e. with no
subdivisions) and land held for life. No grantee or his
heirs could alienate the land held in fee tail. The donor
could give directions that the land could remain to another
person rather than reverting to himself. (Interests in
remainder or reversion of estates in land replace the lord's
tenurial right to succeed to land by escheat if his tenant
dies without heirs.)

In Kent, all men are free and may give or sell their lands
without permission of their lords, as before the Conquest.
(Since Kent was nearest the continent, money flowed between
England and the continent through Kent. So Kent never
developed a manorial system of land holding, but evolved
from a system of clans and independent villages directly
into a commercial system.

Anyone disseising another whereby he also robs him or uses
force and arms in the disseisin shall be imprisoned and
fined. The plaintiff shall recover seisin and damages.

"All must be ready at the command and summons of sheriffs,
and at the cry of the country, to sue and arrest felons as
necessary as well within franchise as without." Otherwise,
he shall be fined. A Lord defaulting shall lose his
franchise to the King. A Bailiff defaulting shall be
imprisoned a year as well as fined, or be imprisoned two
years if he cannot pay the fine. A sheriff, coroner, or any
other bailiff who conceals a felony will be imprisoned for a
year and pay a fine, or be imprisoned for three years if he
cannot pay the fine.

Villeins must report felons, pursue felons, serve in the
watch, and clear growth of concealing underwood from roads.
They must join the military to fight on the borders when
called. Desertion from the army is punishable.

Accessories to a crime shall not be declared outlaw before
the principal is proven guilty. (This made uniform the
practice of the various counties.)

Only those imprisoned for the smaller offenses of a single
incidence of petty larceny, receipt of felons, or accessory
to a felony, or some other trespass not punishable by life
or limb shall be let out by sufficient surety. Prisoners who
were outlawed or escaped from prison or are notorious
thieves or were imprisoned for felonious house burning,
passing false money, counterfeiting the King's seal, treason
touching the king himself, or other major offenses or have
been excommunicated by the church may not be released.

Killing in self-defense and by mischance shall be pardoned
from the King's indictment. Killing by a child or a person
of unsound mind shall be pardoned from the King's
indictment. (But a private accuser can still sue.)

Any man who ravishes [abducts] any woman without her consent
or by force shall have the criminal penalty of loss of life
or limb. (The criminal penalty used to be just two years in
prison.)

Trespasses in parks or ponds shall be punished by
imprisonment for three years and a fine as well as paying
damages to the wronged person. After his imprisonment, he
shall find a surety or leave the nation.

"Forasmuch as there have been often times found in the
country devisors of tales, where discord, or occasion of
discord, has many times arisen between the King and his
people, or great men of this realm; For the damage that has
and may thereof ensue, it is commanded, that from henceforth
none be so hardy to tell or publish any false news or tales,
whereby discord or occasion of discord or slander may grow
between the King and his people, or the great men of the
realm." Anyone doing so shall be imprisoned until he brings
into the court the first author of the tale.

A system of registration and enforcement of commercial
agreements was established by statute. Merchants could
obtain a writing of a debt sealed by the debtor and
authenticated by royal seal or a seal of a mayor of certain
towns, and kept by the creditor. Failure to pay a such a
debt was punishable by imprisonment and, after three months,
the selling of borough tenements and chattels and of county
lands. During the three months, the merchant held this
property in a new tenure of "statute merchant". (Prior to
this, it was difficult for a foreign merchant to collect a
debt because he could not appear in court which did not
recognize him as one of its proper "suitors" or
constituents, so he had to trust a local attorney. Also, the
remedy was inadequate because the history of the law of debt
was based on debt as a substitute for the blood feud, so
that failure to pay meant slavery or death. Also a debtor's
land was protected by feudal custom, which was contrary to
the idea of imposing a new tenant on a lord.)

"In no city, borough, town, market, or fair shall a person
of the realm be distrained for a debt for which he is not
the debtor or pledge."

Anyone making those passing with goods through their
jurisdiction answer to them in excess of their jurisdiction
shall be grievously amerced to the King.

No market town shall take an outrageous toll contrary to the
common custom of the nation.

Since good sterling money has been counterfeited with base
and false metal outside the nation and then brought in,
foreigners found in the nation's ports with this false money
shall forfeit their lives. Anyone bringing money into the
nation must have it examined at his port of entry. Payments
of money shall be made only by coin of the appropriate
weight delivered by the Warden of the Exchange and marked
with the King's mark. (A currency exchange was established
at Dover for the exchange of foreign currency for English
sterling.)

The silver in craftwork must be sterling and marked with the
Leopard's Head. The gold in craftwork must meet the standard
of the Touch of Paris.

The assize of bread and ale had been and was enforced
locally by local inspectors. Now, the Crown appointed royal
officers for the gauge of wines and measurement of cloths.
Edicts disallowed middlemen from raising prices against
consumers by such practices as forestalling [intercepting
goods before they reached the market and then reselling
them] or engrossing [buying a large supply of a commodity to
drive up the price] and price regulation was attempted. For
instance, prices were set for poultry and lamb, in a period
of plenty. Maximum prices were set for cattle, pigs, sheep,
poultry, and eggs in 1314, but these prices were hard to
enforce. In London examples of prices set are: best hen
3d.2q., best wild goose 4d., best hare 4d., best kid 10d.,
best lamb 4d., best fresh herrings 12 for 1d., best pickled
herrings 20 for 1d., best haddock 2d., best fresh salmon 3s.

Freemen may drive their swine through the King's demesne
Forest to feed in their own woods or elsewhere. No man shall
lose his life or limb for killing deer in the Forest, but
instead shall be grievously fined or imprisoned for a year.

The Forest Charter allowed a man to cut down and take wood
from his own woods in the King's forest to repair his house,
fences, and hedges. He may also enclose his woods in the
King's forest with fences and hedges to grow new trees and
keep cattle and beasts therefrom. After seven years growth
of these new trees, he may cut them down for sale with the
King's permission.

Each borough has its own civil and criminal ordinances and
police jurisdiction. Borough courts tended to deal with more
laws than other local courts because of the borough's denser
populations, which were composed of merchants,
manufacturers, and traders, as well as those engaged in
agriculture. Only borough courts have jurisdiction over
fairs. In some boroughs the villein who resides for a year
and a day becomes free. There are special ordinances
relating to apprentices. There are sometimes ordinances
against enticing away servants bound by agreement to serve
another. The wife who is a trader is regarded in many places
as a feme sole [single woman rather than a feme covert
[woman-covert], who was under the protection of a husband].
There may be special ordinances as to the liability of
masters for the acts of their apprentices and agents, or as
to brokers, debt, or earnest money binding a bargain. The
criminal and police jurisdiction in the borough was
organized upon the same model as in the country at large,
and was controlled by the King's courts upon similar
principles, though there are some survivals of old rules,
such as mention of the bot and the wer. The crimes committed
are similar to those of the country, such as violence,
breaches of the assize of bread and beer, stirring up suits
before the ecclesiastical courts, digging up or obstructing
the highway, not being enrolled in a tithing, encroachments
upon or obstructions of rights of common. The most striking
difference with the country at large are the ordinances on
the repair or demolition of buildings, encroachments on
another's building, fires, and nuisances. Specimens of other
characteristic urban disputes are: selling bad food, using
bad materials, unskillful or careless workmanship,
fraudulent weights and measures, fraud in buying and
selling, forestalling or regrating [buying in one market to
resell in another market], acting in a way likely to
endanger the liberties of the borough, usury, trading
without being a citizen, assisting other unlicensed persons
to trade, unlawfully forming a guild, complaints against
various guilds in which trade might be organized. Since the
ordinances were always liable to be called in question
before the King's courts, they tended to become uniform and
in harmony with the principles of the common law. Also,
trading between boroughs kept them knowledgeable about each
other's customs and conditions for trade, which then tended
to standardize. Boroughs often had seals to prove communal
consent and tended to act as a corporate body.

Borough ordinances often include arson such as this one:
"And if a street be set on fire by any one, his body shall
be attached and cast into the midst of the fire." Robbery by
the miller was specially treated by an ordinance that "And
if the miller be attainted [found guilty] of robbery of the
grain or of the flour to the amount of 4d., he shall be
hanged from the beam in his mill."

In London, an ordinance prescribed for bakers for the first
offense of making false bread a forfeiture of that bread.
For the second offense was prescribed imprisonment, and for
the third offense placement in the pillory. A London
ordinance for millers who caused bread to be false
prescribed for them to be carried in a tumbrel cart through
certain streets, exposed to the derision of the people.

By statute, no one may make a gift or alienation of land to
the church. An attempt to do so will cause the land to
escheat to the lord, or in his default, to the King.
Religious houses may not alienate land given to them by the
king or other patrons because such gifts were for the sake
of someone's soul. An attempt to do so will cause the land
to revert to the donor or his heir. If the church did not
say the prayers or do the other actions for which land was
given to it, the land will revert to the donor or his heir.
Land may not be alienated to religious bodies in such a way
that it would cease to render its due service to the King.
(The church never died, never married, and never had
children.) The church shall send no money out of the nation.
(This statute of mortmain was neutralized by collusive
lawsuits in which the intended grantor would sue the
intended grantee claiming superior title and then would
default, surrendering the land to the intended grantee by
court judgment.)

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