Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.4, 2013

 

English Peasants’ Rights to Land in the Middle Ages             

(Abstract)

 

Hou Jianxin

 

Land ownership among the English peasantry is a constantly evolving concept. Under the European feudal system, peasants' right to their land was not exclusive or absolute as it often included property rights for both tenants and their masters, and even other parties. Thus there was no land ownership in the strict sense, but only what is termed tenure, that is, the tenant’s right to hold the land in exchange for providing feudal services. With the rise of economic development and gaming with power and rights, the producer’s possession of land was consolidated. This gave rise to the concept  of seisin (legal possession of land), used to describe the strengthening of the right to possess land. By the late Middle Ages, the tenure of the great majority of peasants was protected not only by manorial law but also by crown common law, just a step away from actual land ownership. The right of possession was originally a right to feudal land, but it later became a springboard to the early capitalist system of ownership. The right to land was one of the outcomes of the break-up of the feudal land system.