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27. Bracton, f 228, b: 'Inprimis videndum est qualiter constitutio illa sit intelligenda, ne male intellecta trahat utentes ad abusum... non omnes nec in omnibus per constitutionem restringuntur, et ideo videndum erit utrum feoffati fuerint large, scilicet per totum, et ubique, et in omnibus locis, et ad omnia averia et sine numero... tales non ligat constitutio memorata, quia feoffamentum non tollit licet tollat abusum.'

28. Note-book of Bracton, 1975.

29. Note-book of Bracton, 1881. The marginal note runs: 'Nota quod nichil includi poterit de forestis et moris licet minimum quid et quamuis quaerens extra clausum habere possit ad sufficientiam.' And a little higher the decision is marked as, contra constitutionem de Merton.'

30. See Scrutton, 63, 64.

31. Bracton, f 227, b: 'Quia multi sunt magnates qui feoffauerunt milites et libere tenentes suos in maneriis suis de paruis tenementis, et qui impedlti sunt per eosdem quod commodum suum facere non possunt de residuo maneriorum suorum.' Reference may also be made to a note on a Plea Roll of 1221 (printed in L. Q.

R. iv. 230), which shows that some years before the statute the magnates complained that they were prevented from assarting their pasture land by the claims of virgaters.

32. This is directly stated by Bracton, f 228, b., vide supra.

33. Cartulary of Christ Church, Canterbury, Addit. MSS. 6159, f 52, b: 'Pastura... de herbagiis cuiusdam vie inter curiam et ecclesiam de Pritelwelle.' Domesday of St. Paul's, I: 'Nulla est ibi pastura nisi in boscis et viis.'

34. Rot. Hundr. 613, b: 'Et omnes libere tenentes... communicant in bosco de A. cum omnibus bestiis suis libere per totum annum.'

35. Eynsham Cart. 10, b: 'Est ibidem unus boscus... cuius valor non appreciatur pro eo quod minister regis non permittit includi si fiat copicium, sufficiens tamen est pro housebote et heybote.'

Gloucester Cart. iii. 67: 'De boscis dicunt quod rex habet quandam costeram bosci de fago juvene quae continet ad aestimationem 30 acras, unde rex poterit approbare per annum dimidiam marcam, scilicet in subbosco et virgis ad clausturam, et meremium ad carucas et alia facienda sine destructione, et ille boscus est communis omnibus vicinis in herbagio.'

36. Cart. of Christ Church, Canterbury, Add. MSS. 6159, f 28, b:

'Boscus ibi est cuius medietas est ecclesie et medietatem clamant tenentes illius denne, ut si dominus arborem unam accipiat, ipsi aliam accipient.'

37. Worcester Cart. (Camden Ser.), 62, b: 'Quaelibet virgata tenet 3 feorthendels de Bruera, et dimidia virgata I feorthendel et dimidium.'

38. For instance, Madox, Exch. I, 27, n. 47: 'Habebunt turbas sufficientes in predicta mora ad focalium fratrum... secundum quantitatem terrarum suarum in eadem villa.'

39. A very remarkable instance of the way in which rights of common were divided and arranged between lords and villains is afforded by the Court Rolls of Brightwaltham. Maitland, Manorial Rolls, Selden Soc. ii. 172. I shall have to discuss the Case in the Fifth Chapter of this Essay.

Rural Work and Rents Our best means of judging of the daily work in an English village of the thirteenth century is to study the detailed accounts of operations and payments imposed on the tenants for the benefit of a manorial lord. Surveys, extents, or inquisitions were drawn up chiefly for the purpose of settling these duties, and the wealth of material they afford enables us to form a judgment as to several interesting questions. It tells directly of the burden which rural workmen had to bear in the aristocratical structure of society; it gives indirectly an insight into all the ramifications of labour and production since the dues received by the lord were a kind of natural percentage upon all the work of the tenants; the combination of its details into one whole affords many a clue to the social standing and history of the peasant classes of which we have been treating.