Thirdly, the _use_ of the
soil, for various specified purposes, resided in the inhabitants of
certain townships or hundreds, was appendant to certain tenements, or
was reserved as easement on the sale of the land.
Some very interesting questions, arising out of this joint occupancy,
were raised in the courts at the close of the thirteenth
century--notably the right of search for the object of ascertaining
whether there were on the common more animals than any of the parties
was entitled to place there, and, if so, of impounding them. Was this
right appurtenant to the manor, or was it also appendant to a frank
tenement in a particular vill? In one case where the lord had depastured
an excess of beasts, the court decided against him, and in favour of a
commoner whom he accused of "tortiously" taking his cattle. But,
notwithstanding this judgment, there is some uncertainty on the point,
as appears from the report of an action tried in the Middlesex Iter of
1294.
"Robert Fitznel brought the Replegiare against Richard, the son of John,
saying that he had tortiously taken his beasts in the wood of the Abbat
of Horwede, formerly the forest of King Henry, by whom it was given as a
chace to N., ancestor of Richard."
"_Warwick_: 'Sir, we offer to aver that Robert and all those who have
held the land in N., which he holds have been seised for all time, &c,
of the common in the wood where his taking was made as appurtenant to
their frank tenement.
Pages:
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289