exam94b

MEDIEVAL STUDIES 117:
ENGLISH CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL HSTORY

Professor Donahue, Mr. Berkhofer

May 13, 1991: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

INSTRUCTIONS

This exam has two questions that will be given approximately equal weight. For the first question you are to choose one of the three subparts. For the second question you are to write on the one question offered. You have an hour and a half to write each essay. You should not write furiously for the full hour and a half. Rather you should spend some time outlining what you are going to say and revising what you have written. The result should be two coherent essays.

I.

A.

Examine the following extract from Glanvill (Mats. p. 5-29):

"The king to the sheriff, greeting. N. has complained to me that R. unjustly and without a judgment has disseised him of his free tenement in such-and-such a vill since my last voyage to Normandy. Therefore I command you that, if N. gives you security for prosecuting his claim, you are to see that the chattels which were taken from the tenement are restored to it, and that the tenement and the chattels remain in peace until the Sunday after Easter. And meanwhile you are to see that the tenement is viewed by twelve free and lawful men of the neighborhood, and their names endorsed on this writ. And summon them by good summoners to be before me or my justices on the Sunday after Easter, ready to make the recognition. And summon R., or his bailiff if he himself cannot be found, on the security of gage and reliable sureties to be there then to hear the recognition. And have there the summoners, and this writ and the names of the sureties. Witness, etc."

Write a commentary on this quotation. You should, of course, examine the prior and subsequent history of the institutions to which it refers, but your principal focus should be on the passage itself and its meaning.

B.

Examine the following extract from Mats. p. 14-5:

The Miller's Case
Y.B. Mich. 41 Ed. 3, f. 24, pl. 17
A.D. 1367

"A writ was brought against a carpenter sur tiel mattere [on such (this) matter], that, whereas he had undertaken make the plaintiff a new house within a certain time, he had not made the house, a tort [wrongfully], etc.

"Tildesley [the serjeant representing the defendant]: Sir, you see well how this matter sounds in a manner of covenant, of which covenant he shows nothing. Now therefore we ask judgment if he shall have an action without a specialty.

"Norton [the serjeant representing the plaintiff]: And we ask judgment, sir; for if he should have made my house badly and should have destroyed my timber, I should have had an action sure enough on my case without a deed.

"THIRNING, C.J. [i.e., chief justice of Common Pleas]: I grant well your case, because he shall answer for the tort he has done, quia negligenter fecit [because he did it negligently]. But if a man makes a covenant and shows nothing done beyond the covenant, how shall you have your action against him without a specialty?

"HILL, J. [another justice of Common Pleas]: He could have had an action on the Statute of Laborers in this case, supposing him to have been retained in his service to make a house, but this action is too feeble. Because, therefore, it seems to the court that this action, which is taken at common law, is founded on a thing which is covenant in itself, of which nothing is shown, the court awards that you take nothing by your writ, but be in mercy."

Write a commentary on this case. Your principal focus should be on the case itself and its meaning. You should, of course, also examine the prior and subsequent history of the institutions to which it refers, but a good essay will probably not reach back much before 1348 nor go much further than 1506.

C.

Examine the following extract from Doctor and Student (Materials, pp. 30-43 to 30-44):

"Doctor: ... I pray thee touch shortly upon some of the causes why there hath been so many persons put in estate of lands to the use of others as there have been, for, as I hear say, few men be sole seised of their land.

"Student: There have been many causes thereof, of the which some be put away by divers statutes, and some remain yet. Wherefore thou shalt understand that some have put their land to feoffment secretly, to the intent that they that have right to the land should not know against whom to bring their action, and that is somewhat remedied by divers statutes that give actions against pernors [roughly "takers"] and takers of profits. ... And sometime they were made to use of mortmain, which might then be made without forfeiture, though it were prohibited that the freehold might not be given in mortmain. But that is put away by the statute of Richard the Second. And sometime they were made to defraud the lords of wards, reliefs, heriots [a payment due a lord upon succession to the land of a villein], and of the lands of their villeins, but those points be put away by divers statutes made in the time of king Henry VII. ... And yet remain feoffments, fines and recoveries [types of conveyance] in use for many other causes, in manner as many as there did before the said statute[s]. And one cause why they be yet thus used is, to put away tenancy by the courtesy and titles of dower. ... And sometimes such uses be made that he to whose use, etc., may declare his will thereon, and sometime for surety of divers covenants in indentures of marriage and other bargains. And these last two articles be the chief and principal cause why so much land is put in use."

Write a commentary on this quotation. You should, of course, examine the prior and subsequent history of the institutions to which it refers, but your principal focus should be on the passage itself and its meaning.

II.

We have dealt with a number of institutions of English governance in this course: the witenagemot, the curia regis, the chancery, the exchequer, the council, the wardrobe, the chamber, parliament. Some historians in discussing these institutions emphasize their essential continuity; others emphasize their discontinuity. Write a coherent essay on these institutions in which you try to give a balanced picture of the extent to which these institutions remained the same over the course of time and the extent to which they changed.

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last modified: 12/13/08

	MEDIEVAL STUDIES 117: ENGLISH CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL HSTORY Professor Donahue, Mr. Berkhofer May 13, 1991: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
	INSTRUCTIONS
	This exam has two questions that will be given approximately equal weight. For the first question you are to choose one of the three subparts. For the second question you are to write on the one question offered. You have an hour and a half to write each essay. You should not write furiously for the full hour and a half. Rather you should spend some time outlining what you are going to say and revising what you have written. The result should be two coherent essays.
	I.
	A.
	Examine the following extract from Glanvill (Mats. p. 5-29): "The king to the sheriff, greeting. N. has complained to me that R. unjustly and without a judgment has disseised him of his free tenement in such-and-such a vill since my last voyage to Normandy. Therefore I command you that, if N. gives you security for prosecuting his claim, you are to see that the chattels which were taken from the tenement are restored to it, and that the tenement and the chattels remain in peace until the Sunday after Easter. And meanwhile you are to see that the tenement is viewed by twelve free and lawful men of the neighborhood, and their names endorsed on this writ. And summon them by good summoners to be before me or my justices on the Sunday after Easter, ready to make the recognition. And summon R., or his bailiff if he himself cannot be found, on the security of gage and reliable sureties to be there then to hear the recognition. And have there the summoners, and this writ and the names of the sureties. Witness, etc." Write a commentary on this quotation. You should, of course, examine the prior and subsequent history of the institutions to which it refers, but your principal focus should be on the passage itself and its meaning.
	B.
	Examine the following extract from Mats. p. 14-5:
	The Miller's Case Y.B. Mich. 41 Ed. 3, f. 24, pl. 17 A.D. 1367
	"A writ was brought against a carpenter sur tiel mattere [on such (this) matter], that, whereas he had undertaken make the plaintiff a new house within a certain time, he had not made the house, a tort [wrongfully], etc. "Tildesley [the serjeant representing the defendant]: Sir, you see well how this matter sounds in a manner of covenant, of which covenant he shows nothing. Now therefore we ask judgment if he shall have an action without a specialty. "Norton [the serjeant representing the plaintiff]: And we ask judgment, sir; for if he should have made my house badly and should have destroyed my timber, I should have had an action sure enough on my case without a deed. "THIRNING, C.J. [i.e., chief justice of Common Pleas]: I grant well your case, because he shall answer for the tort he has done, quia negligenter fecit [because he did it negligently]. But if a man makes a covenant and shows nothing done beyond the covenant, how shall you have your action against him without a specialty? "HILL, J. [another justice of Common Pleas]: He could have had an action on the Statute of Laborers in this case, supposing him to have been retained in his service to make a house, but this action is too feeble. Because, therefore, it seems to the court that this action, which is taken at common law, is founded on a thing which is covenant in itself, of which nothing is shown, the court awards that you take nothing by your writ, but be in mercy." Write a commentary on this case. Your principal focus should be on the case itself and its meaning. You should, of course, also examine the prior and subsequent history of the institutions to which it refers, but a good essay will probably not reach back much before 1348 nor go much further than 1506.
	C.
	Examine the following extract from Doctor and Student (Materials, pp. 30-43 to 30-44):
	"Doctor: ... I pray thee touch shortly upon some of the causes why there hath been so many persons put in estate of lands to the use of others as there have been, for, as I hear say, few men be sole seised of their land. "Student: There have been many causes thereof, of the which some be put away by divers statutes, and some remain yet. Wherefore thou shalt understand that some have put their land to feoffment secretly, to the intent that they that have right to the land should not know against whom to bring their action, and that is somewhat remedied by divers statutes that give actions against pernors [roughly "takers"] and takers of profits. ... And sometime they were made to use of mortmain, which might then be made without forfeiture, though it were prohibited that the freehold might not be given in mortmain. But that is put away by the statute of Richard the Second. And sometime they were made to defraud the lords of wards, reliefs, heriots [a payment due a lord upon succession to the land of a villein], and of the lands of their villeins, but those points be put away by divers statutes made in the time of king Henry VII. ... And yet remain feoffments, fines and recoveries [types of conveyance] in use for many other causes, in manner as many as there did before the said statute[s]. And one cause why they be yet thus used is, to put away tenancy by the courtesy and titles of dower. ... And sometimes such uses be made that he to whose use, etc., may declare his will thereon, and sometime for surety of divers covenants in indentures of marriage and other bargains. And these last two articles be the chief and principal cause why so much land is put in use." Write a commentary on this quotation. You should, of course, examine the prior and subsequent history of the institutions to which it refers, but your principal focus should be on the passage itself and its meaning.
	II.
	We have dealt with a number of institutions of English governance in this course: the witenagemot, the curia regis, the chancery, the exchequer, the council, the wardrobe, the chamber, parliament. Some historians in discussing these institutions emphasize their essential continuity; others emphasize their discontinuity. Write a coherent essay on these institutions in which you try to give a balanced picture of the extent to which these institutions remained the same over the course of time and the extent to which they changed.