The Legal Framework of English Feudalism: The Maitland Lectures given in 1972 (Cambridge Studies in English Legal History)

Professor Milsom works out a fresh view of the beginnings of the common law concerning land. The received picture depends upon progressive assumptions: key words began with their later meanings; the law began with abstract ideas of property; a tenant's title to his tenement was never subject to his lord's control; the lord had no discretion, only the power to decide disputes according to external criteria; jurisdiction in that sense was all the lord lost as royal remedies developed; and all the tenant gained was better protection of unaltered rights. It is a picture of procedural changes taking place against an unchanging background, with the feudal structure at the beginning almost as insubstantial as it was to be at the end. Frontmatter Preface (page vii) List of abbreviations and modes of citation (page ix) 1 Disciplinary jurisdiction (page 1) 2 Proprietary ideas (page 36) 3 Proprietary jurisdiction (page 65) 4 Grants (page 103) 5 Inheritance (page 154) Index (page 187) Disciplinary Jurisdiction -- Proprietary Ideas -- Proprietary Jurisdiction -- Grants -- Inheritance. S.f.c. Milsom. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.