in Kent, all such lands were presumed Gavelkind, and primogeniture must be proved, either by showing that the lands had been "disgavelled," or that they were originally granted on knight's service. Of course this applied to the grants made since the Conquest to Norman feoffees. Gavelkind was an ancient custom of the Saxons and Danes (68 of Canute's Laws).
In Gavelkind, if there are several houses, the eldest son takes his choice of them. If there is only one, it is his, but he must pay its value to his co-heirs.
There is another old custom in Kent and Sussex called Borough English. By it, the youngest son inherits the land. This has been accounted for by supposing that the elder sons would be grown up and off to the wars before their father's death, and therefore unable to fulfil the duties of the tenure. Like Gavelkind, Borough English cannot be disputed as a custom; it must be shown not to hold good in the particular case. It is not peculiar to Kent and Sussex. A letter in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1783 says that the custom of Borough English then still remained in the manor of Taunton Dean in Somerset. "Where, if a tenant dies, having no wife, the youngest son shall enjoy his lands; and if there be no son, then the preference shall be given to the youngest daughter."
The serfs of Saxon times were the descendants of the conquered Britons, or freemen who had been degraded for crimes, or sometimes men who had sold themselves through misfortune.[1] But these serfs were not numerous in comparison with the classes of the semi-free—the villeins of every degree up to the class known as freemen.
Before the Conquest, land-tenure in England included three rights which have been called "the test of land-freedom." They were:
1. The right of alienation, or transfer by sale or gift.
2. The power of disposal by will.
3. The power of transmission by inheritance.
After the Conquest, the first two were virtually abrogated
- ↑ The man who had committed a crime, and could not pay the fine, and could find no one to pay it for him, clasped his hands in court, and said that he had no one "to make amends" for him. Then he lost his freedom, and sank with his children into the ranks of the servi. For a year, however, he might be redeemed.
