This is very confusing, don't people over there just buy and sell land? Ruth At 3:30 PM +0100 10/28/04, Tompkins, M.L wrote: ><<Personal estate used to mean movable items, not land. So in the days >when the only significant wealth was land, which was "real estate", this >would not have been part of personal estate and could not have been left.>> > > >I often see statements to the effect that land could not be devised by >will, and they always puzzle me, because they are simply not correct. Or >at least not very correct - as always, the situation was complex, and the >law changed over time. However it is true to say that at most times in >modern English history most land could be devised by will. > >It all depends on the kind of land in question. -- Ruth Barton mrgjb@sover.net Dummerston, VT

In message of 28 Oct, Ruth Barton <mrgjb@sover.net> wrote: > This is very confusing, don't people over there just buy and sell > land? Ruth Land used to he held by feudal duties. Only the king "owned" land. Everyone else was a tenant, either of the king directly (tenant-in-chief) or a tenant of a tenant-in-chief, etc. All tenants had to provide military service when asked; later they were able to give money instead and the king would employ mercenaries. On death land went to your heirs, who usually had to pay a tax to receive it and swear allegiance to their feudal superior. For tenants-in-chief, there was an inquest in each county to determine the heirs to the dead tenant. You could, just, transfer land in your lifetime but you had to get the permission of your feudal superior. In many ways this was gangster country. If you read how the mafia conduct themselves, and compare it with feudal practices, there are many similarities. It was only in the 16th century that it became possible to leave or dispose of land away from the feudal lines. Not confusing at all! Just different. -- Tim Powys-Lybbe tim@powys.org For a miscellany of bygones: http://powys.org