VILLAGE NEWS

 

In the FOURTEENTH CENTURY…………..

​

The Stratford sub Castle Land Dispute settled by the court in favour of the Porter family

​

In October 1321 the Court (of Common Pleas) ruled

​

• 32. Fine 32

• Aumbresbury. Amesbury

• Def. Deforciant. Someone who wrongfully holds something from someone else

• Fine. From the 12th C land disputes when settled in the courts were recorded twice on a parchment, the fine, each party receiving one half. A third copy was added at  bottom of this document and was retained for the public record. It was written at the foot of fine, these copies were the Feet of Fines. Fines continued to the 19th C

• Fitelton. Fittleton is near Netheravon

• King’s Order. This meant the crown had an interest in the case

• Messuages. A house with its outbuildings and lands

• Mic. The Michaelmas term of the legal year

• Pl. Plaintiff

• Tenement. Property held by tenure, by one person from another (superior) person

• The King’s Writ. A (written) summons, of the court, with Royal authority, to the accused or wrongdoer.

• To hold. Medieval law observed a distinction between ownership and possession.

• Virgate. The area of land used for tax assessment that could be tilled by two oxen in one season. It could vary but was roughly ¼  of a hide or 30 acres

 

Source

Abstracts Of Feet Of Fines Relating to Wiltshire For The Reigns Of Edward I And Edward II Edited By R.B.Pugh An Assistant Keeper Of The Public Records Devizes 1939

http://www.wiltshirerecordsociety.org.uk/pdfs/wrs_v01.pdf

 

 

Kerry O’Connor

February 2021