Bateson, Mary, ed., Borough Customs, 2 vols. (Selden Society, vols. 18, 21) Read this source online
Text name(s):
Number of pages of primary source text: 527
Author(s):
Dates: 1150 - 1500
Archival Reference:
Original Language(s):
- Anglo-Norman
- English - Middle English
- Latin
Translation:
- Translated into English.
Translation Comments:
Geopolitical Region(s):
- British Isles
- England
- Ireland
- Scotland
County/Region: Berwick-upon-Tweed; Bristol; Dover; Dublin; Exeter; Fordwich; Godmanchester; Hastings; Hereford; Hythe; Ipswich; Kidderminster; Kilkenny; Lincoln; London; Lydd; Newcastle; Northampton; Pevensey; Romne
Record Types:
- Custumal
Subject Headings:
- Clergy - Priests, Bishops, Canons
- Economy - Trade
- Family / Children
- Government
- Law - Crime
- Law - Secular
- Towns / Cities
Apparatus:
- Index
- Glossary
- Appendix
- Introduction
Comments:
Text organized thematically, with each ordinance/custom printed in original language (many in AN) and then translated. Appendix on sursise of rent (clvii-clix). Text covers borough courts (pleading, borough officers), seignorial and family law (land, chattels, feudal dues, husband and wife), inheritance, wardship, merchant law, ecclesiastical relations. List of rarer words: 215-16; Index to Custumals, pp. 217-20. Index of matters, 221-
To download volume 18 as a pdf go to http://www.archive.org/details/publicationsofse18selduoft for volume 21 see the link above.
Introduction Summary:
Extensive introduction: vol. I, pp. ix-lix. Covers custumals as a source (with a list of all extant custumals she examined). Text covers type of court action (Crime and Tort: arrest, mainprise, appeal, judgments, punishments, trespasses), court procedure (summons, pledges, attachment and distress, essoins, wager of law, debt, contract); real and mixed actions (disseisin, fresh force, waste, landlord and tenant). Intro to vol. II pp. xv-xlvi covers process and execution, contract, alienation and inheritance, husband and wife, rights in land, minority, seignorial claims, wills and intestacy, and borough courts.
Cataloger: MAK
