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Proof Of Age Inquisition
A proof of age inquisition was required during the feudal era in England to enable a minor to exit wardship. The age of majority to be proved for a male was 21, for a female 14 if married, 16 if unmarried. Witnesses were required to give evidence of the subject's date of birth, or christening. The findings of the inquisition were returned to the appropriate court, which then ordered the guardian to release the property to the ward, who obtained seizin. If the minor was a tenant-in-chief the inquisition reported to the appropriate Royal Court. The first stage of the process was the application by the ward for a writ for the inquisition to commence. This was effectively a written order by the king to the escheator in the county in which the ward's lands were situated, to empanel witnesses and begin the inquisition. Example The proof of age inquisition survives of Alan la Zouche, 1st Baron la Zouche of Ashby (born 9 October 1267 – died shortly before 25 March 1314), preserved in t ...
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Feudalism In England
Feudalism as practiced in the Kingdoms of England during the medieval period was a state of human society that organized political and military leadership and force around a stratified formal structure based on land tenure. As a military defense and socio-economic paradigm designed to direct the wealth of the land to the king while it levied military troops to his causes, feudal society was ordered around relationships derived from the holding of land. Such landholdings are termed fiefdoms, traders, fiefs, or fees. Origins of feudalism The word, "feudalism", was not a medieval term, but an invention of sixteenth century French and English lawyers to describe certain traditional obligations between members of the warrior aristocracy. Not until 1748 did it become a popular and widely used word, thanks to Montesquieu's ''De L'Esprit des Lois'' (The Spirit of the Laws). The coined word ''feudal'' derives from an ancient Gothic source ''faihu'' signifying simply "property" which in i ...
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Wardship
In law, a ward is a minor or incapacitated adult placed under the protection of a legal guardian or government entity, such as a court. Such a person may be referenced as a "ward of the court". Overview The wardship jurisdiction is an ancient jurisdiction derived from the British Crown's duty as '' parens patriae'' ("parent of the nation") to protect his or her subjects, and particularly those unable to look after themselves. In the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms, the Monarch as ''parens patriae'' is parent for all the children in their realms, who, if a judge so determines, can become wards of court. However, the House of Lords, in the case of ''Re F (Mental Patient: Sterilisation)'', held that the Queen has no ''parens patriae'' jurisdiction with regard to mentally disabled adults. A court may take responsibility for the legal protection of an incapacitated person as well a minor, and the ward is known as a ward of the court or a ward of the state. In Australia, ...
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Age Of Majority (England)
The age of majority in England is 18, having been reduced from 21 by thFamily Law Reform Act 1969 At that age persons are considered as adults and acquire the legal capacity to enter into legally binding contracts (thus to hold a credit card and take out a loan), to vote in elections, to buy tobacco and cigarettes and have a tattoo. Below that age persons are considered in law to be " infants" and colloquially to be " children" or youth. There are some things a person cannot do at age 18. For example, one must be 21 to adopt a child (unless one is the mother or father of the child). Capacities at earlier ages 10 At the age of 10, in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland a child is deemed criminally responsible and may be tried in a court of law. The age of criminal responsibility in Scotland is 8 although a child may not be prosecuted in a court until the age of 12. 11 At the age of 11 a child may open a bank current account, but only with permission from a parent. Children up to th ...
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Seizin
Seisin (or seizin) denotes the legal possession of a feudal fiefdom or fee, that is to say an estate in land. It was used in the form of "the son and heir of X has obtained seisin of his inheritance", and thus is effectively a term concerned with conveyancing in the feudal era. The person holding such estate is said to be "seized of it", a phrase which commonly appears in inquisitions ''post mortem'' (i.e. "The jurors find that X died seized of the manor of ..."). The monarch alone "held" all the land of England by his allodial right and all his subjects were merely his tenants under various contracts of feudal tenure. Etymology Seisin comes from Middle English ''saysen'', ''seysen'', in the legal sense of to put in possession of, or to take possession of, hence, to grasp, to seize. The Old French variations ''seisir'', ''saisir'', are from Low Latin ''sacire'', generally referred to the same source as Gothic ''satjan'', Old English ''settan'', to put in place, set. Tenures sub ...
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Tenant-in-chief
In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as opposed to holding them from another nobleman or senior member of the clergy.Bloch ''Feudal Society Volume 2'' p. 333Coredon ''Dictionary of Medieval Terms & Phrases'' p. 272 The tenure was one which denoted great honour, but also carried heavy responsibilities. The tenants-in-chief were originally responsible for providing knights and soldiers for the king's feudal army.Bracton, who indiscriminately called tenants-in-chief "barons" stated: "sunt et alii potentes sub rege qui barones dicuntur, hoc est robur belli" ("there are other magnates under the king, who are called barons, that is the hardwood of war"), quoted in Sanders, I.J., ''Feudal Military Service in England'', Oxford, 1956, p.3; "Bracton's definition of the ''baro''" (plur ''baron ...
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Writ
In common law, a writ (Anglo-Saxon ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'') is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, and '' certiorari'' are common types of writ, but many forms exist and have existed. In its earliest form, a writ was simply a written order made by the English monarch to a specified person to undertake a specified action; for example, in the feudal era a military summons by the king to one of his tenants-in-chief to appear dressed for battle with retinue at a certain place and time. An early usage survives in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia in a writ of election, which is a written order issued on behalf of the monarch (in Canada, by the Governor General and, in Australia, by the Governor-General for elections for the House of Representatives, or State Governors for state elections) to local officials ( High Sheriffs of ever ...
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Escheator
Escheat is a common law doctrine that transfers the real property of a person who has died without heirs to the crown or state. It serves to ensure that property is not left in "limbo" without recognized ownership. It originally applied to a number of situations where a legal interest in land was destroyed by operation of law, so that the ownership of the land reverted to the immediately superior feudal lord. Etymology The term "escheat" derives ultimately from the Latin ''ex-cadere'', to "fall-out", via mediaeval French ''escheoir''. The sense is of a feudal estate in land falling-out of the possession by a tenant into the possession of the lord. Origins in feudalism In feudal England, escheat referred to the situation where the tenant of a fee (or "fief") died without an heir or committed a felony. In the case of such demise of a tenant-in-chief, the fee reverted to the King's demesne permanently, when it became once again a mere tenantless plot of land, but could be re ...
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Alan La Zouche, 1st Baron La Zouche Of Ashby
Alan la Zouche, 1st Baron la Zouche of Ashby (9 October 1267 – shortly before 25 March 1314) was born at North Molton, Devonshire, the only son of Roger La Zouche and his wife, Ela Longespée, daughter of Stephen Longespée and Emmeline de Ridelsford. He received seisin of his father's lands after paying homage to the king on October 13, 1289. Alan was governor of Rockingham Castle and steward of Rockingham Forest. Alan La Zouche died without any sons shortly before at the age of 46, and his barony fell into abeyance among his daughters. Birth Alan la Zouche was born in North Molton on St Denis's Day (9 October) 1267 and was baptised in the church there, as was testified by his uncle "Henry la Zuche, clerk" and several local and other gentry and clerics at his proof of age inquisition in 1289 which enabled him to exit royal wardship: ''"Alan son and heir of Roger la Zusche alias la Zuch, la Souche. Writ to Peter Heym and Robert de Radington, to enquire whether the said Al ...
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Inquisition Post Mortem
An Inquisition post mortem (abbreviated to Inq.p.m. or i.p.m., and formerly known as an escheat) (Latin, meaning "(inquisition) after death") is an English medieval or early modern record of the death, estate and heir of one of the king's tenants-in-chief, made for royal fiscal purposes. The process of making such inquisition was effected by the royal escheators in each county where the deceased held land. The earliest inq.p.m. was made in 1236, in the reign of King Henry III (1216–1272), and the practice ceased c.1640, at the start of the English Civil War, and was finally abolished by the Tenures Abolition Act 1660, which ended the feudal system. Purpose The escheators were ordered by a writ from the king's chancery to investigate the deaths of tenants-in-chief in order to assess what monetary value was due to the king from his so-called feudal incidents, comprising for example feudal relief, wardships, and marriages. Such revenues which resulted from the deaths of his tenant ...
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North Molton
North Molton is a village, parish and former manor in North Devon, England. The population of the parish in 2001 was 1,047, decreasing to 721 in the 2011 census. An electoral ward with the same name also exists. The ward population at the census was 2,206. Bounded on the north east by the border with Somerset, it is the second largest parish in Devon, covering about 15,000 acres. Until the 18th century the village was an important centre of the woollen industry, and mining was also a significant employer in the parish until the 19th century. History North Molton was a manor within the royal demesne until it was granted to a member of the la Zouche family by King John. In 1270 Roger la Zouche was granted a licence to hold a weekly market in the manor and an annual fair on All Saints' Day. The manor then passed through the St Maur family to the Bampfylde family, in the 15th century. Amyas Bampfylde (died 1626) built Court Hall—now demolished—to the immediate east of the c ...
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Lilleshall Abbey
Lilleshall Abbey was an Augustinian abbey in Shropshire, England, today located north of Telford. It was founded between 1145 and 1148 and followed the austere customs and observance of the Abbey of Arrouaise in northern France. It suffered from chronic financial difficulties and narrowly escaped the Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries in 1536, before going into voluntary dissolution in 1538. Foundation Disputed origins Lilleshall was one of a small number of monasteries in England belonging to the rigorist Arrouaisian branch of the Augustinians. A persistent tale, possibly stemming from William Dugdale, the pioneering 17th century historian of Britain's monasteries, claims that there was an Anglo-Saxon church at Lilleshall, dedicated to St Alkmund. Even Dugdale sounded a note of scepticism, and by 1825, when Hugh Owen and John Brickdale Blakeway wrote their history of Shrewsbury, the scepticism was dominant and they would allow only they “could not disprove” t ...
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Bratton Fleming
Bratton Fleming is a large village, civil parish and former manor near Barnstaple, in Devon, England. It lies a few miles west of Exmoor. The parish is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of Challacombe, Brayford, Stoke Rivers, Goodleigh, Shirwell, Loxhore, Arlington and Kentisbury. The population of the parish in 2001 was 942, falling to 928 in 2011. There is an electoral ward with the same name which at the 2011 census had a population of 2,117. History The former Manor of Bratton Fleming was owned by a succession of families from the Norman Conquest to the 19th century. The Flemings had their seat at Chimwell which Tristram Risdon described as "one of the largest demesnes of this shire". According to W. G. Hoskins, Chimwell is now a farmhouse called Chumhill. Other Domesday manors in the parish were Benton and Haxton. The great jurist Henry de Bracton (c. 1210 – c. 1268) was either born here or at Bratton Clovelly. The village was once served by a rai ...
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