English Economic History: Select Documents. Various

English Economic History: Select Documents - Various


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him to appear before you at a certain day upon a certain pain by you to be limited, to be examined of the premises, and thereupon to do that good faith and conscience require, and that for the love of God and in way of charity.

      This is the answer of Harry Edmond to the bill of Elizabeth Baron, Harry Baron and Richard Baron, in the Chancery.

      First, whereas it is surmised by the said Elizabeth that she was possessed and seised of a messuage and four acres of land in the town of Great Hormead in the shire of Hertford, and the said messuage and land held to her and to her heirs at the will of my lord of Oxford as of his manor of Hormead in the same shire by copy of court roll after the custom of the said manor, and that the said Harry Edmond, farmer of the same manor, without cause reasonable and contrary to the custom of the said manor, entered into the said messuage and land and put out the said Elizabeth: The said Harry saith that the said messuage and land be holden of my said lord of Oxford bondly at the will of my said lord as of his said manor by the services of three shillings and halfpenny of yearly rent and by a certain service called the common fine, as it falleth more or less after the entries and … of the tenants of the said manor by the custom of the said manor, by cause whereof the said Harry with one Thomas Denys, under-steward of the court of the said manor, by the commandment of my said lord of Oxford entered into the said messuage and land, after which entry my said lord let the said messuage and land to the said Harry for term of years, by virtue of which lease he [entered] the said messuage and land, as lawful is for him, which matter the said Harry is ready to prove as this Court will [award], and prayeth as for that to be dismissed out of this Court.

      [And as for t]he seizing and withholding of certain goods and chattels of the said Elizabeth, Harry Baron and Richard, to the value of [40 marks, as is sur]mised by the said bill, the said Harry Edmond saith that the seizing and withholding of the said goods and chattels is a matter determinable at the Common Law, and not in this Court of the Chancery. Wherefore as for that he prayeth to be dismissed out of this Court.

      And as for the declaration of the said Harry as for the said goods and chattels, the said Harry saith that he never seized nor withheld the said goods and chattels neither no parcel thereof, as it is surmised by the said bill, which matter the said Harry Edmond is ready to prove as the Court will award, if the Court rule him thereto.

      11. Statute of Merton, c. 4 [Statutes of the Realm, Vol. I, p. 2], 1235–6.

      Also, because many great men of England, who have enfeoffed their knights and freeholders of small tenements in their great manors, have complained that they cannot make their profit of the residue of their manors, as of wastes, woods, and pastures, though the same feoffees have sufficient pasture, as much as belongs to their tenements: it is thus provided and granted, that when any persons so enfeoffed bring an assize of novel disseisin touching their common of pasture, and it is acknowledged before the justices that they have as much pasture as suffices for their tenements, and that they have free entry and issue from their tenements into their pasture, then they shall be content therewith; and they of whom they had complained shall go quit of the profit which they have made of the lands, wastes, woods, and pastures; and if they allege that they have not sufficient pasture, or sufficient entry and issue as belongs to their tenements, then the truth shall be inquired by assize; and if it be acknowledged by the assize that their entry or issue is in any way hindered by the same [deforcers] or that they have not sufficient pasture and sufficient entry and issue, as is aforesaid, then shall they recover their seisin by view of the jurors: so that by their discretion and oath, the plaintiffs shall have sufficient pasture and sufficient entry and issue in form aforesaid, and the disseisors shall be in the mercy of the lord the King, and shall yield damages, as they ought to have rendered before this provision. And if it be acknowledged by the assize that the plaintiffs have sufficient pasture with free and sufficient entry and issue, as is aforesaid, then the others may make their profit lawfully of the residue, and go quit of that assize.

      12. An Enclosure Allowed [Bracton's Note-Book, III, 212, No. 1198], 1236–7.

      And Elias comes and says that an assize ought not to be made thereof because that pasture belonged to five lords, and a covenant was made between the lords that each should make his profit of his part, and by this covenant he caused his part to be tilled, and thereof he put himself on a jury.

      13. An Enclosure Disallowed [Bracton's Note-Book, III, 211, No. 1196], 1236–7

      The jurors say that the aforesaid Adam always used to have common in that meadow and in the land of Robert by that meadow after the corn and hay were carried, and when the land lay fallow, then in both meadow and fallow, and Robert caused the meadow to be enclosed so that Adam can have no entry to that pasture. And so it is awarded that the dyke be thrown down, and the meadow made as it should be, so that the aforesaid Adam have entry and issue, and that Robert be in mercy, etc.

      14. A Villein on Ancient Demesne Dismissed to his Lord's Court [Bracton's Note-Book, III, 65. No.


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