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Presenting a full and precise description of all legal ties between landlord and tenant in early modern England, Agrarian Problems in the Sixteenth Century and After re-examines one of the key issues in English agrarian history - the question of the legal security of the copyholder.
Comparing historical records and literary evidence, Agrarian Problems in the Sixteenth Century and After reprints much of the important 1969 edition of the book, and asserts that:
* customary tenants enjoyed legal security in and before the sixteenth century
* enclosures proceeded legally, without oppression, and in much the same form (whether ratified in parliament or not) throughout the whole period
* depopulation was less extensive than sometimes supposed and that such depopulation as there was often proved economically profitable and not without social benefit.
When first published in 1969, this fascinating book represented a unique viewpoint that affected, and in some cases reversed, much accepted opinion. As a landmark work in a highly important area of English agrarian history, it still has considerable impact today.
List of contents
Part 1: Agrarian Problems 1. The Manor 2. Tenures and Estates 3. Security of Tenure 4. Enclosure 5. The Ratification of Enclosures 6. Depopulation and Inpopulation Part 2: Selected Documents 1. Bracton, De Legibus es Consuetudinibus Angliae 2. Britton 3. Tenores Novelli 4. Coke upon Littleton 5. Year Book of 7 Edward IV 6. Year Book of 21 Edward IV 7. Eight Centuries of Reports 8. Reports d'ascuns Cases 9. Coke 10. Calthrope, The Lord of the Manor and the Copyholder 11. Coke, The Complete Copyholder 12. Duns Tew Enclosure Proposals 13. Bremhill Court Book 14. Bedfont Health Allotment 15. Haselbeech Articles of Agreement 16. Haselbeech Enclosure Agreement 17. 18. & 19. Performance of Haselbeech Agreement 20. Rowde Enclosure Dispute 21. Ratification in Chancery 22. Droitwich Enclosure Presentments 23. Raunde ALne Enclosure Declaration 24. John Spencer's Petititions 25. Sir Thomas Humfrey's Answer 26. Laud's Commission of Depopulation 27. Enclosures Reconsidered
About the author
Kerridge, Eric
Summary
Presenting a full and precise description of all legal ties between landlord and tenant in early modern England, this text re-examines one of the key issues in English agrarian history - the question of the legal security of the copyholder.
