Selected quad for the lemma: land_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A43971
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The art of rhetoric, with A discourse of the laws of England by Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury.; Art of rhetoric
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Hobbes, Thomas, 1588-1679.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing H2212; ESTC R7393
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151,823
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382
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of the Caesars that could write or read The right to the Government was either Paternal or by Conquest or by Marriages Their succession to Lands was determined by the pleasure of the Master of the Family by Gift or Deed in his life time and what Land they disposed not of in their life time descended after their death to their Heirs The Heir was the Eldest Son The issue of the Eldest Son failing they descended to the younger Sons in their order and for want of Sons to the Daughters joyntly as to one Heir or to be divided amongst them and so to descend to their Heirs in the same manner And Children failing the Uncle by the Fathers or Mothers side according as the Lands had been the Fathers or the Mothers succeeded to the inheritance and so continually to the next of blood And this was a natural descent because naturally the nearer in Blood the nearer in kindness and was held for the Law of nature not only amongst the Germans but also in most Nations before they had a written Law The right of Government which is called Jus Regni descended in the same manner except only that after the Sons it came to the eldest Daughter first and her Heirs the reason whereof was that Government is indivisible And this Law continues still in England La. Seeing all the Land which any Soveraign Lord possessed was his own in propriety how came a Subject to have a propriety in their Lands Ph. There be two sorts of Propriety One is when a Man holds his Land from the gift of God only which Lands Civilians call Allodial which in a Kingdom no Man can have but the King The other is when a Man holds his Land from another Man as given him in respect of service and obedience to that Man as a Fee The first kind of propriety is absolute the other is in a manner conditional because given for some service to be done unto the giver The first kind of propriety excludes the right of all others the second excludes the right of all other Subjects to the same Land but not the right of the Soveraign when the common good of the People shall require the use thereof La. When those Kings had thus parted with their Lands what was left them for the maintenance of their Wars either offensive or defensive or for the maintenance of the Royal Family in such manner as not only becomes the dignity of a Soveraign King but is also necessary to keep his Person and People from contempt Ph. They have means enough and besides what they gave their Subjects had much Land remaining in their own hands afforrested for their recreation For you know very well that a great part of the Land of England was given for Military service to the great Men of the Realm who were for the most part of the Kings kindred or great Favourites much more Land than they had need of for their own Maintenance but so charged with one or many Souldiers according to the quantity of Land given as there could be no want of Souldiers at all times ready to resist an invading Enemy Which Souldiers those Lords were bound to furnish for a time certain at their own Charges You know also that the whole Land was divided into Hundreds and those again into Decennaries in which Decennaries all Men even to Children of 12 years of age were bound to take the Oath of Allegiance And you are to believe that those Men that hold their Land by the service of Husbandry were all bound with their Bodies and Fortunes to defend the Kingdom against invaders by the Law of nature And so also such as they called Villains and held their Land by baser drudgery were obliged to defend the Kingdom to the utmost of their power Nay Women and Children in such a necessity are bound to do such service as they can that is to say to bring Weapons and Victuals to them that fight and to Dig But those that hold their Land by service Military have lying upon them a greater obligation For read and observe the form of doing homage according as it is set down in the Statute of 17 Edw. 2. which you doubt not was in use before that time and before the Conquest La. I become your Man for Life for Member and for worldly Honour and shall owe you my faith for the Lands that I hold of you Ph. I pray you expound it La. I think it is as much as if you should say I promise you to be at your Command to perform with the hazard of my Life Limbs and all my Fortune as I have charged my self to the reception of the Lands you have given me and to be ever faithful to you This is the form of Homage done to the King immediately but when one Subject holdeth Land of another by the like Military service then there is an exception added viz. saving the faith I owe to the King Ph. Did he not also take an Oath La. Yes which is called the Oath of Fealty I shall be to you both faithful and lawfully shall do such customs and services as my duty is to you at the terms assigned so help me God and all his Saints But both these services and the services of Husbandry were quickly after turned into Rents payable either in Money as in England or in Corn or other Victuals as in Scotland and France When the service was Military the Tenant was for the most part bound to serve the King in his Wars with one or more Persons according to the yearly value of the Land he held Ph. Were they bound to find Horse-men or Foot-men La. I do not find any Law that requires any Man in respect of his Tenancie to serve on Horseback Ph. Was the Tenant bound in case he were called to serve in Person La. I think he was so in the beginning For when Lands were given for service Military and the Tenant dying left his Son and Heir the Lord had the custody both of Body and Lands till the Heir was twenty one years old and the reason thereof was that the Heir till that Age of twenty one years was presum'd to be unable to serve the King in his Wars which reason had been insufficient if the Heir had been bound to go to the Wars in Person Which methinks should ever hold for Law unless by some other Law it come to be altered These services together with other Rights as Wardships first possession of his Tenants inheritance Licenses for Alienation Felons Goods Felons Lands if they were holden of the King and the first years profit of the Lands of whomsoever they were holden Forfeitures Amercements and many other aids could not but amount to a very great yearly Revenue Add to this all that which the King might reasonably have imposed upon Artificers and Tradesmen for all Men whom the King protecteth ought to contribute towards their own protection and consider then whether the