登陆注册
5252000000038

第38章

Legal practice is very explicit as to the limitation of ancient demesne in time and space. It is composed of the manors which belonged to the crown at the time of the Conquest.(2*) This includes manors which had been given away subsequently, and excludes such as had lapsed to the king after the Conquest by escheat or forfeiture.(3*) Possessions granted away by Saxon kings before the Conquest are equally excluded.(4*) In order to ascertain what these manors were the courts reverted to the Domesday description of Terra Regis. As a rule these lands were entered as crown lands, T.R.E. and T.R.W., that is, were considered to have been in the hand of King Edward in 1066, and in the hand of King William in 1086. But strictly and legally they were crown lands at the moment when King William's claim inured, or to use the contemporary phrase, 'on the day when King Edward was alive and dead.' The important point evidently was that the Norman king's right in this case bridged over the Conquest, and for this reason such possessions are often simply said to have been royal demesne in the time of Edward the Confessor. This legal view is well illustrated by a decision of the King's Council, quoted by Belknap, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, in 1375. It was held that the manor of Tottenham, although granted by William the Conqueror to the Earl of Chester before the compilation of Domesday, was ancient demesne, as having been in the hands both of St. Edward and of the Conqueror.(5*) And so 1066 and not 1086 is the decisive year for the legal formation of this class of manors.(6*)In many respects the position of the peasantry in ancient demesne is nearly allied to that of men holding in villainage at common law. They perform all kinds of agricultural services and are subject to duties quite analogous to those which prevail in other places; we may find on these ancient manors almost all the incidents of servile custom. Sometimes very harsh forms of distress are used against the tenants;(7*) forfeiture for non-performance of services and non-payments of rents was always impending, in marked contrast with the considerate treatment of free tenantry in such cases.(8*) We often come across such base customs as the payment of merchet in connexion with the 'villain socmen' of ancient demesne.(9*) And such instances would afford ample proof of the fact that their status has branched off from the same stem as villainage, if such proof were otherwise needed.

The side of privilege is not less conspicuous. The indications given by the law books must be largely supplemented from plea rolls and charters. The special favour shown to the population on soil of ancient demesne extends much further than a regulation of manorial duties would imply, it resolves itself to a large extent into an exemption from public burdens. The king's manor is treated as a franchise isolated from the surrounding hundred and shire, its tenants are not bound to attend the county court or the hundred moot,(10*) they are not assessed with the rest for danegeld or common amercements or the murder fine,(11*)they are exempted from the jurisdiction of the sheriff,(12*) and do not serve on juries and assizes before the king's justices;(13*) they are free from toll in all markets and custom-houses.(14*) Last, but not least, they do not get taxed with the country at large, and for this reason they have originally no representatives in parliament when parliament forms itself. On the other hand, they are liable to be tallaged by the king without consent of parliament, by virtue of his private right as opposed to his political right.(15*) This last privilege gave rise to a very abnormal state of things, when ancient demesne land had passed from the crown to a subject. The rule was, that the new lord could not tallage his tenants unless in consequence of a royal writ, and then only at the same time and in the same proportion as the king tallaged the demesnes remaining in his hand.(16*) This was an important limitation of the lord's power, and a consequence of the wish to guard against encroachments and arbitrary acts. But it was at the same time a curious perversion of sovereignty: -- the person living on land of this description could not be taxed with the county,(17*) and if he was taxed with the demesnes, his lord received the tax, and not the sovereign. I need not say that all this got righted in time, but the anomalous condition described did exist originally.

There are traces of a different view by which the power of imposing tallage would have been vested exclusively in the king, even when the manor to be taxed was one that had passed out of his hand.(18*) But the general rule up to the fourteenth century was undoubtedly to relinquish the proceeds to the holder of the manor. Such treatment is eminently characteristic of the conception which lies at the bottom of the whole institution of ancient demesne. It is undoubtedly based on the private privilege of royalty. All the numerous exceptions and exemptions from public liabilities and duties flow from one source: the king does not want his land and his men to be subjected to any vexatious burdens which would lessen their power of yielding income.(19*)Once fenced in by royal privilege, the ancient demesne manor keeps up its private immunity, even though it ceases to be royal.

同类推荐
  • 集大乘相论

    集大乘相论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 析津志辑佚

    析津志辑佚

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 佛说杂譬喻经

    佛说杂譬喻经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 桂林风土记

    桂林风土记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 通玄真经缵义

    通玄真经缵义

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 科学家日记

    科学家日记

    多年前,某五好青年吴迪被骗入某无良研究所,开始了他悲催的研究和被研究的生涯。多年后,他决定用日记揭露研究所的邪恶秘密:脑洞大开的发明;玩死人不偿命的黑科技;以及比这些奇葩发明更奇葩的科学家……这一切的一切,都在我的日记里!
  • 魔兽重生

    魔兽重生

    罗雷,一个侦察兵。一不小心,他光荣的穿越了。又一个不小心,他成了魔兽;再一个不小心,他成了小公主的契约魔兽;你说吧,人家穿越都是王公贵族,再不济也是个人,怎么轮到咱穿越就成了魔兽呢?————噬魂刀现天下乱,夺魄剑出鬼神惊!五方豪杰显威灵,箭破繁星落雪间。
  • 桃缘兮

    桃缘兮

    他历劫,她下凡,他们结识。羽扇纶巾笑谈间,千军万马我无懈,伪面君子三尺剑,烽火狼烟我敷衍。这一刻的宁静愿是永恒,这一时的陪伴愿是永世……万箭齐发,杀气如麻,以命相博,满目红腥坠血。三分天下,为谁争霸?谁,执我之手,潋我半世癫狂;谁,抚我之面,慰我半世悲伤;谁,吻我之眸,应我半世琉璃;谁,携我之心,融我半世冰霜……只愿为汝蹉跎,人剑梦里冷潇潇,醉剑长萧寒霜雪。把酒言欢,不幸曲终了,一身骄傲,独自醉倒,行看恩怨世间,只愿醉里梦他千百回……
  • 我只是受了点伤

    我只是受了点伤

    那还是2000年,净水巷的少女阮苏陌倾慕顾安笙,而林立夏狂追着周嘉言。而顾安笙喜欢他人,周嘉言面临出国深造。他们在这个三叉路口走散,以为有缘的人还会相逢,却不知道等到相逢那一天,你不再是你,我不再是我。也是在告别的晚宴上,阮苏陌闹了乌龙认识了秦楚,这个人改变了她接下来的生活。因为欠着秦楚的钱,阮苏陌到秦楚家做钟点工,两人摩擦不断却也乐在其中。而顾安笙因为公司破产,失去行踪,在秦楚设的毕业饭局上,林立夏重逢已有女友的周嘉言,两人咫尺天涯。没有了顾安笙的消息,阮苏陌一时之间不知道如何是好,幸而秦楚一直陪在她身边,而周嘉言对于立夏深深的眷恋却让女友白琳嫉恨到找人报复林立夏……
  • 今生前世,我都恨你

    今生前世,我都恨你

    穿越,这个老掉牙的事居然发生在我身上,穿越就穿越,为什么要让我遇到同样的仇人,无论是现代还是古代,他还是那么的高高在上,但那又怎么样,无论是现代还是古代,我依旧不怕你,要命一条,反正我不在乎了。
  • 创世鼻祖的发明家(4)(世界名人成长历程)

    创世鼻祖的发明家(4)(世界名人成长历程)

    《世界名人成长历程——创世鼻祖的发明家(4)》本书分为鲁班、爱德华·琴纳、威廉·赫谢尔等部分。
  • 闲窗括异志

    闲窗括异志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 海公案(中国古典公案小说精品书库)

    海公案(中国古典公案小说精品书库)

    本书为清代小说。前六十回为《海公大红袍全传》;六十一回至末一百零二回为《海公小红袍全传》,今存道光十二(1832)壬辰年厦门文德堂刋本。叙述一位无私无畏的清官海瑞一生的故事。海瑞其人其事《明史》有载,是历史上有名的清官,号称“南包公”。本书文笔粗疏,情节离史实颇远。
  • 诸上善人咏

    诸上善人咏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 血战天下