Earlier chapters looked at the early history of the use of the writ of contra formam feoffamenti from the time of its initial drafting in 1260, shortly after the publication of the first issue of the Provisions of Westminster, up to the time of the enactment of a final revised version of the Provisions of Westminster as the Statute of Marlborough in 1267. This chapter looks at the use made by litigants of the action during the four decades after that final reaffirmation of the legislation in 1267 and at the ways in which the courts interpreted the legislation during that period.

THE WORDING OF THE ORIGINAL WRIT OF CONTRA FORMAM FEOFFAMENTI

The authority behind the Statute

One of the major themes of the earlier discussion of the writ of contra formam feoffamenti was just how closely the different formulas used in the writ to refer to the legislative authority behind the enactment of the legislation reflected the changing political climate during that period. When Chancery resumed the issuing of such writs in 1267 it seems initially, and rather surprisingly, to have reverted to one of the more radically ‘baronial’ formulations for many, if not all, of the writs it issued. It was not until two or three years later that it adopted a relatively neutral formula (‘since by the common council of the king's realm it has been provided’) to refer to that legislative authority.