The principal rights of English manor serfs

下面为大家整理一篇优秀的assignment代写范文- The principal rights of English manor serfs，供大家参考学习，这篇论文讨论了英国庄园农奴的主体权利。主体权利是一种身份权利或等级权利，或者称之为潜在的原始个人权利，又叫自然权利，是每个人最基本的或固有的权利，是人作为主体的本性，一种天赋的自由和行为能力。对于农奴主体权利而言，原始契约因素的存在，体现在它得到法律制度中独具特色的庄园习惯法的保障。

In the middle ages, the relationship between the monarch and the vassal contained contractual factors, that is, "there was a tense and cooperative relationship between the subjects of social activities, including the ruler and the ruled, especially between the royal power and other social forces, or a contractual relationship to some extent. According to mark Bloch, "the subjection of a vassal is a real contract, and a two-way contract." Mr Maine calls such contracts "original contracts". Logically speaking, the original contractual relationship must be extended to the internal organizational structure of the manor, that is, the relationship between the Lord and the serfs. In the social structure of the feudal hierarchy, although the original contractual relationship cannot be compared with the contractual relationship in the modern sense, it does define certain rights and obligations in terms of the logical connotation and rules of people's social activities.

After the Norman conquest in 1066, the English manor system gradually rose and reached its peak in the 13th century. Generally speaking, the laborers on the manor consisted of three parts: slaves, hired hands and tenants. Sharecroppers were the main laborers on the farm. They were generally serfs, but there were also other status dependents and free farmers. The land on the manor was divided into three types: self-supporting land, tenancy and common land. Self-supporting land belonged to the Lord and was cultivated by serfs in the form of labor. Serfs received their share of land from the tenancy. The Commons are wasteland and pasture; Serfs, who had no personal freedom in law, undertook heavier labor than free peasants. In this way, the manor organization took the land relation as the link to link up the internal strata; With the difference to the land possession relation, stipulated respective rank and the status.

The original contractual relationship existing in the operation and management, production and labor of the feudal manors in England stipulated the rights and obligations of the landlords and serfs to a certain extent. A villan came to settle on the estate, and the Lord gave him his share of the land; A certain amount of means of production, including two oxen, a horse, some barley, oats, and seeds for ploughing. In this way, a villan was doubly obliged to pay rent to the Lord for his share of the land; As the Lord provides the means of production, he should serve on a weekly basis, that is, provide 2-3 days of hard labor for the Lord within a week. One of the most important features of the manor was the emphasis on the fact that one had to work for the Lord in order to obtain the right to rent the land of the manor. Therefore, serfs are also called grebae adscriptae. "This means that they are not allowed to leave the land except under certain conditions," burman said. It also means that they cannot be expelled except under certain conditions." The relationship between Lord and serf essentially involved a right and obligation.

Manor custom was very specific about the amount and manner of servitude. Serfs were required to perform servitude according to the size of their holdings, including several days a week on the Lord's own land. For example, the beechley estate in Northumberland in the 12th century required the Lord to serve in full veran three days a week, plowing and raking an acre a day during the winter week. In the spring, in addition to the plow and harrow, but also according to the arrangement of the crop sowing. Half of the work will also be completed at the above conversion criteria. Twenty-two serfs holding thirty acres of land worked three days a week for their Lord and were allowed 13 days off each year for Easter, whit Sunday and Christmas. Serfs who owned 12 acres of land worked two days a week and took 13 days off during the three festivals. Similar provisions were made in other farm books; for example, two bushels of wheat or one quart of oats a day were threshed; Mowing an acre or so a day; Cutting the grain for half an acre and so on, has become the established practice. Obviously, the feudal lords strictly regulated the amount of servitude for the purpose of supervising the serfs' labor, but this was a two-way restriction. While restricting the serfs, it also limited the exercise of the power of the feudal lords. Therefore, any attempt to increase the amount of servitude was difficult to achieve, which protected the serfs' interests to some extent.

There are also clear regulations on the right to use land. In the open fields, all the villagers must act in unison and cannot make any arbitrary decisions about farming and planting. However, for the newly cultivated lands, after paying a certain rent to the Lord, they can grow the crops they need. Each year, for a small rent, serfs were allowed to reclaim a few acres of virgin land, known as "new land. On the new reclaimed land, he was his own master and had the final say in what and how he liked to plant. On public land, serfs could graze their cattle in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "public right". The most valuable of the various rights of the serf was the so-called "public right", which enabled the serf to use not only the uncultivated pasture and surrounding wasteland, but also the cultivated land and grassland after the removal of the fence. "The interests of customary and free sharecroppers in the village community are mainly public grazing rights and public lands. In addition to the right to use the land, there are the right of inheritance, testamentary right, marriage right, captive-breeding right, hunting right, raising poultry right, logging right, branch right and so on.

It can be said that within the manor, between the feudal owners and the serfs, between the serfs and the serfs, from organization and management to daily activities, what can be done, what can't be done, what rights can be enjoyed, what obligations can be undertaken, and so on, are clearly defined. These rights and obligations based on hierarchical status have dual functions: to guarantee the interests of the feudal lords, while restricting their powers; while determining the serfs' obligations, they also guaranteed their own rights. Although the rule and be ruled between Lord and serf, the relationship between exploitation and exploitation, but because of the existence of the original contract factors, manor serfs side always has a kind of subject consciousness and the concept of rights, in other words, the manor serfs while accept Lord rule and exploitation, but on the lords can't break a right to the bottom line.

As for the subject rights of serfs, the existence of the original contract factor is firstly reflected in the protection of the manor common law with unique features in the legal system. Britain has a unique legal tradition, and its legal system is based on common law and case law. "The concept of rights", "the supremacy of law" and "people's nature" are the distinctive characteristics of the growth of the British legal system. In the 11th and 12th centuries, with the rise of the feudal manor system, traditional customs were transformed into a legal system. It is said that "custom" and "convention", which have been passed on for a long time and have been existed since ancient times, are gradually integrated into people's legal concept as a unique legal form. This kind of law "does not mean that the manor law merely imposes obligations on the peasants. On the contrary, the manor law is not insignificant in protecting the interests of the peasant class."

The formation of manor customs was full of struggle between serfs and lords for rights. This form of struggle is not a sudden, violent struggle, but in daily production activities, in a gradual, concrete, often effective way. Since the Norman conquest, every manor house has been a stage for endless struggle between lords and serfs for their own interests. Every aspect of the manor custom seemed to be marked by the serf's bargaining with the Lord. The manor customs were gradually formed, largely upon the serfs' decision after decision; The "judgment" made by the serfs again and again was the decisive factor in the formation of the manor custom. In the 13th century, in order to protect their own interests, the lords easily changed the customs and started to put the manor customs into words. In this process, serfs fought for their rights for centuries. As some scholars have pointed out: "if we can understand the meaning between the lines of these books, we can find that every change in practice has a story behind it, and every change is the result of mutual pressure between the two sides. For example, serfs fought against their lords for a long time to make sure of the form of the "poll tax". "Poll tax" was an arbitrary tax imposed by the Lord on serfs, and its uncertainty was regarded as a symbol of the status of serfs and their freedom. Serfs after continuous struggle, so that the "poll tax" levy amount, the frequency of the levy and the principle of the levy was gradually determined. Once these principles are established, it is easy for people to regard poll tax as only a kind of additional tax, and once the uncertainty of poll tax is eliminated, it will no longer exist as a special mark of labor burden. In the late 13th century, when the poll tax was eventually converted into an additional regular tax levied on a per-share basis, another visible mark of serfdom disappeared.

In the centuries when the manor system existed, the unique legal system of England, especially the manor common law, provided a space for lords and serfs to take on each other. The contest between the two sides involved both confrontation and compromise. The Lord and the serfs often bargained for an agreement that the serfs would pay a sum of money and the Lord would exempt them from servitude. In 1316, for example, the housekeeper at cookham recorded in the farm books that Richard's winter Labour cost two shillings and sixpence. Adam bray's winter Labour costs two shillings and sixpence; Joanna blodget sells her winter Labour for 15p. In 1304, the 260 works of burton were sold for half a penny each. Therefore, the formation of customs was also a process of constant struggle and compromise between lords and serfs around their own interests. Once the content was determined, it was binding on both the lords and the serfs. Common law immobilized every tenant, and any attempt to increase it was strongly opposed by the tenant himself and his associates. A farm in Sussex records that the customary sharecroppers of bishop stown, NORTON, and dunton brought their own plowshares with them for two days of serving-one day meat, the other fish, and plenty of beer. As long as serfs routinely performed their labors, the Lord had to honor his promises. It is not uncommon for the land rent paid by serfs to remain constant for as long as 200 or 250 years for a tenant farmer. For example, the certainty of the rent of Stanton manor and the feudal burden of serfs indicated that "both the Lord and the tenant tried not to leave room for the arbitrariness of the other, which was a kind of supervision over the serf's neglect of work, but undoubtedly a kind of restriction on the Lord's arbitrary deduction or exploitation".

On the other hand, of course, we can also see examples of lords attempting to bypass the usual limits by increasing the amount of exploitative income, by making other arrangements for the tenancy and taxation of the new arrangements. In huguehoe, the landowner Lionel DE bredenham changed the customary land rent to tenancy. In 1325-1381 the income from land rent increased from 169 shillings and 11p to 298 shillings and 5p. Lords were always trying to reduce or even eliminate the restrictions of custom. This also shows from another side the limited role of custom to the feudal lords in Britain. The clarity and concretization of serfs' labor and taxes in the manor law were beneficial to the protection of serfs' rights to some extent. In the form of law, it regulated the ways, approaches and quantities by which the Lord could obtain benefits, limited the unlimited exploitation of serfs by the Lord, and thus provided the serfs in a passive position with relatively stable space to protect their rights and even obtain economic benefits.

For the lords, the manor custom was the rule by which they managed and managed the manor, especially for the benefit of their tenants. For the serfs, the manor custom was a weapon to protect their rights against excessive usurpation by the Lord while assuming corresponding obligations. From the perspective of the history of English manors, it is obvious that the rights of serfs were gradually expanded in the struggle made by the manors' common law.

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