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  • Early legal documents

    Does anyone know why early legal documents were dated, not with the years date but with a date that used the commencement

    of a monarchs reign i.e. Ín the 19th year of Edward III for example. Was it

    1. Because people were not aware of the actual date.

    2. Because everything revolved around the reigning monarch.

    3. Because these legal docos (land transactions) reflected the fact that the monarch owned everything anyway.

    Any clues?
    Whoever said Seek and Ye shall find was not a genealogist.

    David

  • #2
    It was just the way things were done, lol. Most people wouldn't have had a clue what the date was really. It was possibly a way of distancing the transactions from ecclesiastical ones, which MIGHT have used the old Julian calendar.

    Incidentally, the Monarch did not own everything. The Church owned a great deal and the rest was owned by private landowners.

    OC

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    • #3
      And another thing, lol - it probably had a lot to do with the the fact that the highest court in the land was that of the monarch - he was the lawmaker and all contracts had to be run past him, so he could get his dibs.

      OC

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      • #4
        If I remember rightly from long-ago law school lectures, the Queen theoretically owns everything. Freehold property just means that she generously lets you keep it.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Mary from Italy View Post
          If I remember rightly from long-ago law school lectures, the Queen theoretically owns everything. Freehold property just means that she generously lets you keep it.
          That sounds dimly familiar to me, too!

          Christine
          Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

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          • #6
            Oooh, is that correct? (Rhetorical question, lol). I didn't know that, or if I did, I've forgotten.

            OC

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            • #7
              Thanks everyone, think I have a reasonable idea of why it was so.
              Whoever said Seek and Ye shall find was not a genealogist.

              David

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