English Landholding

In 1066 after the conquest. King William declared that he owned all of the land in England by right of conquest. He gave Large land grants to either his Norman officers or to those of the English who were ready to recognize him as king.

The king controlled and administered his land through tenure. The lords holding tenure directly from the king were called tenants-in-chief. These Lords formed the basis of the English aristocracy. A lord would contract with a commoner, to sub-grant use of part of the royal tenure in exchange for goods or services. Rules of law relating to the rights and obligations of lords and tenants can be found in the Magna Carta.

Tenures granted by the king and lords were for goods or services, ie: Knight service, the tenant agreed to serve as a knight in the king or lord's army or "free and common socage", service or goods other than those military, ie: the provision of a certain amount of food from a tenant's crop. Religious bodies could also hold land from a lord, in exchange for prayers; this was called "free alms."

Tenure obligations. An oath of fidelity was required of the Tenants to the lord, which formed legal relationship between the lord and the tenant. The lord was entitled to emergency taxes, the lord was allowed a special tax from the tenant's eldest son, as heir of the tenure, called "relief" for the transfer. If at his death the tenant's eldest son was a minor, the land went into wardship and if the heir was female the lord could veto her marriage.

Escheat allowed the land to revert back to the lord. There were two reasons for escheat. 1) the death without heirs of the tenant. 2) The conviction of the tenant of a felony. A person pleading guilty to a felony lost his land to the lord for himself and his heirs, but if he died without a plea, his heir remained eligible to claim the property by paying relief .

Estates

A. Fee Simple estate was used the most . The tenant was able to sell or to convey by will or be transferred to the tenant's heir if he died.

B. Fee tail estate the tenure could only be transferred to a lineal descendant. If there were no descendants at the death of the tenenat the land reverted to the lord.

C. Life estate was granted for the life of the tenant, after it reverted to the lord.

 

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