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Lecture notes Property I
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Lecture notes of 8 pages for the course Property I at LSE (Feudalism)
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W2 – RADICAL TITLE AND THE FICTION OF FEUDALISMLECTURE 1 – CONCEPTS IN OWNING LAND
Why should we have property? Why is it admired that we put fences
up? Why do we not hold the earth in common? Political
jurisprudential questions.
Locke would say that God gave the earth to man in common. How
has the system changed since his time?
We only live for a certain amount of years whereas we try to own
things that probably last much longer than we do. Why should we
have private property in land? Does this disadvantage people?
Which people?
ENGLAND PRE 1066 IN SAXON ENGLAND
Before 1066 the law that applied in terms of land holding did not
exist as much as it did today. There were simply sovereigns and
some written rules in history but the notion of rights coming from a
central hierarchical authority down to individuals was not present
for the most part.
Saxon landholding:
o Communal. People had little private property in land.
o Family was the basic unit and only private land was that
around the family home.
o Unenclosed agricultural land, divided into strips.
o King did not ‘own’ the land of subjects, and thus could not
give it away.
o ‘Thegns’ or Lords had the use of more strips of agricultural
land.
, There was a distinction between the sovereignty and the property.
The sovereignty had control of taxes army etc whereas if you owned
a piece of land that is your property.
1066: William the Conqueror claimed he had a right to the kingdom
of England and fought the Battle of Hastings. He won. He brought in
Norman Law, i.e. the French Law in England. He brought the
concept of FEUDALISM with him to England, post-1066.
Refer to Susan Reynolds’ article and ch3 of Fiefs and Medieval
Property Relations pp 48-74 (all on Moodle). Susan shows how
people’s behaviours and property rulings were deeply intertwined.
Pre-Norman times, you can have an identity in the community and
vis a vis the king had nothing to do with your relationship between
the land and nothing to do with the king granting you any rights.
Post-1066, whatever you owned or wherever you lived or had CAME
FROM THE KING AND REPRESENTED YOUR STATUS IN THE
COMMUNITY. NOTE HOW THIS HAS BEEN THE SITUATION FOR A
VERY, VERY LONG TIME. MATERIALISM AND PROPERTY GIVES YOU
STATUS; THESE THINGS GO HAND IN HAND AND WILLIAM THE
CONQUEROR IS A ROOT OF THIS, AS SUSAN REYNOLDS ARGUES.
The New Law and the New Administration depicts swearing an oath
of loyalty to Willaim. This is a notion of showing loyalty to the
sovereign. The King was at the top of the hierarchy. In return for
various services, for a certain amount of time to his tenants, he
gives military, agriculture and religious services to the people of the
land i.e. those below the hierarchy. And those who have these
services delegate these services all the way down to the ‘surfs’
(slaves, who actually got no rights).
THE DOMESDAY BOOK: commissioned by William in Dec 1085. It
contained records for 13,418 settlements in the English counties
south of the rivers Ribble and Tees (border with Scotland at the
time). This was for taxation purposes.
YOU DO NOT HAVE RIGHTS ON THE LAND THAT YOU OWN JUST
BECAUSE YOU OWN IT AND WORK IN IT AND LIVE IN IT! EVEN IF THE
PREVIOUS KING GAVE YOU RIGHTS IN OR IF YOU WERE A LORD. THE
KING HAD TO GIVE YOU A GRANT FOR YOU TO LIVE IN THAT LAND
AFTER THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. THIS IS FEUDALISM.
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