¹ In the United States, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws have drafted a series of model Acts, some dealing with simplification in property transmission. The Uniform Probate Code's statement of purpose is “to simplify and clarify the law concerning the affairs of decedents…s. 1–102(b)(1). It has been adopted in 15 States. Other Uniform Acts dealing with devolution, for example, the Uniform Testamentary Additions to Trust Act (which facilitates the creation of “pour-over wills”) has been adopted in 42 States and the District of Columbia. In England, the Administration of Justice Act 1982, s. 17 relaxes some of the very elaborate formalities of execution required by s. 9 of the Wills Act 1837 and Wills Act Amendment Act 1852, s. 1. Moreover, s. 21 of the 1982 Act allows all evidence of the testator's intention in construing ambiguities within a will.

² The term “strategy” has been widely used as a means of conceptualising individual and group behaviour. We hear of strategies of heirship (Goody, J. and Harrison, G. A., “Strategies of Heirship,” (1973) 15 Comparative Studies in Society and History, 3CrossRefGoogle Scholar); fertility strategies (Wrigley, E. A., “Fertility Strategy for the Individual and the Group” in Historical Studies in Changing Fertility, ed. Tilly, Charles (1978) 135–54Google Scholar); and marriage strategies (Bourdieu, P., “Les strategies matrimoniales dans le system de reproduction”, (1972) 27 Annales E.S.C. 1105Google Scholar). See generally the articles in Family and Inheritance: Rural Society in Western Europe, 1700–1800, eds. Goody, Jack, Thirsk, Joan and Thompson, E. P. (1976)Google Scholar.

³ For a discussion, see Gulliver, Ashbel and Tilson, Catherine, Classification of Gratuitious Transfers, (1941) 51 Yale L.J. 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁴ Ibid., 9–13.

⁵ Ehrlich, Isaac and Posner, Richard, “An Economic Analysis of Legal Rulemaking” (1973) 3 Journal of Legal Studies 257CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 264 (Common-law rulemaking is less efficient); Friedman, Lawrence, “The Law of the Living, the Law of the Dead: Property, Succession, and Society,” (1966) Wisconsin Law Review 340, 368Google Scholar.

⁶ For a contrary view, see Langbein, John, “Substantial Compliance with the Wills Act” (1975) 88 Harvard Law Review 489, 524CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁷ The term “individualistic” has a number of different definitions depending upon context. As legal historians, we wish to avoid the debate of legal theorists over the elements of a legal culture that is “individualistic.” Nor do we wish to engage in the historical debate regarding England's different development proffered by Macfarlane, Alan in The Origins of English Individualism: The Family, Property and Social Transition (1978)Google Scholar, having engaged in dialogue elsewhere (“Law and Individualism in Medieval England” (1986) 11 Social History, 287CrossRefGoogle Scholar). Here we simply mean that a property holder deals with property free from the control of family members, and selects a pattern with a minimal interference in law.

⁸ To some extent, all American States protect the surviving spouse against disinheritance either through the “community property” system or the “elective share.” In England, a court can order maintenance for a surviving spouse (or other dependent relative) left without “reasonable provision”: Inheritance (Family Provision) Act 1938, s. 1; Inheritance (Family Provision) Act 1975, s. 1.

⁹ Contrast the prohibition on the disinheritance of children in Louisiana (whose private law is derived from the French civil code), La. Civil Code Article ss. 1495, 1493, 1497,1502–04) with the plenary power to disinherit children in the other 49 States. See Samuel, C., Shaw, W., and Spaht, K., “Successions and Donations” (1985) 45 Louisiana Law Review 575Google Scholar; Glendon, Mary Ann, “Fixed Rules and Discretion in Contemporary Family Law and Succession Law” (1986) 60 Tulane Law Review 1165Google Scholar.

¹⁰ Loyn, H. R., Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest (1962), 292–98Google Scholar, Stenton, F. M., Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd ed. (1971) 315–18Google Scholar; Pollock, F. and Maitland, F. W., The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I, 2nd ed. (1968) Vol. II, 242–46Google Scholar (hereafter Pollock & Maitland).

¹¹ Ibid., Vol. II, 247–53.

¹² Sheehan, Michael, The Will in Medieval England from the Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to the End of the Thirteenth Century (1963), 5–12Google Scholar.

¹³ Pollock & Maitland, Vol. II. 244.

¹⁴ Ibid., 249.

¹⁵ Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, Liebermann, F., (ed.), 3 vols. (1903–1916) vol. 1, 366–67Google Scholar; Sheehan, op. cit., n.10, supra, 98.

¹⁶ Vinogradoff, Paul, “Folkland” (1893) English Historical Review 1Google Scholar.

¹⁷ For example, Homans, George, English Villagers of the Thirteenth Century, 2nd ed. (1960)Google Scholar.

¹⁸ Poos and Bonfield, op. cit., n.7, supra, 287, 301; see particularly works cited in note 14 in response to White, Stephen and Vann, Richard, “The Invention of English Individualism: Alan Macfarlane and the Modernization of pre-Modern England” (1983) 8 Social History 345CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁹ Bonfield, Lloyd, “Manor Courts and the Customary Law of Family Relations in Medieval England” (forthcoming, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 1989Google Scholar).

²⁰ Maitland, F. W. (ed.), Select Pleas in Manorial and Other Seignorial Courts (Selden Society, 2, 1899), lxvii, lxxiiGoogle Scholar. Beckerman, J. S., “Customary Law in Manorial Courts in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries” (unpublished University of London Ph.D. thesis, 1973), 10–11Google Scholar.

²¹ Homans, op. cit., n. 17, supra, 109–43; Faith, R. J., “Peasant Families and Inheritance Customs in Medieval England,” (1966) 14 Agricultural History Review, 77–95Google Scholar; Harvey, P. D. A. (ed.), The Peasant Land Market in Medieval England (1984), 39–50, 91–4Google Scholar; C. Howell, “Peasant Inheritance Customs in the Midlands 1280–1700, “ in Goody, Thirsk, and Thompson (eds.), op. cit., n. 2, supra, 112–55.

²² This approach particularly informs the views of Homans, op. cit., n. 17, supra, and Faith, op. cit., n. 21, supra.

²³ E. A. Wrigley, op. cit., n. 2, supra, 135–54; Smith, R. M., “Some Issues Concerning Families and their Property in Rural England 1250–1800,” Land, Kinship and Life-Cycle, Smith, R. M. (ed.), (1984), 38–62Google Scholar.

²⁴ A protracted debate has surrounded this issue; for a summary of views and a guide to the secondary literature, see Smith, R. M., “Some Thoughts on ‘Hereditary’ and ‘Proprietary’ Rights in Land under Customary Law in Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Century England,” (1983) 1 Law and History Review 95–128CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²⁵ Ibid., 107–26; Beckerman, op. cit., n. 20, supra, 138–9; Hyams, P. R., King, Lords and Peasant in Medieval England: The common law of villeinage in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (1980), 38–40Google Scholar.

²⁶ Documented examples of this may be found in Dyer, C. C., Lords and Peasants in a Changing Society: The estates of the Bishopric of Worcester 680–1540 (1980), 305–12Google Scholar; Razi, Z., Life, Marriage and Death in a Medieval Parish: Economy, society and demography in Halesowen 1270–1400 (1980), 50–60Google Scholar.

²⁷ Harvey, B., Westminster Abbey and its Estates in the Middle Ages (1977), 280–3Google Scholar; Dyer, op. cit., n. 26, supra, 303; for examples of texts see Poos, L. R., “Population and Resources in two Fourteenth-Century Essex Communities: Great Waltham and High Easter 1327–1389” (unpublished University of Cambridge Ph.D. thesis, 1984), 230–3Google Scholar.

²⁸ Sheehan, op. cit., n. 12, supra, 24.

²⁹ Pollock & Maitland, n. 18, supra, 319–20.

³⁰ Poos and Bonfield, op. cit. n. 18, supra, 287–301; an early example of this form of transfer in a manorial court is printed in F. W. Maitland (ed.), op. cit., n. 20, supra, 40.

³¹ Clark, E., “Some Aspects of Social Security in Medieval England.” (1982) 7 Journal of Family History, 307–20CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

³² New College, Oxford, Archives (hereafter NCO) (cited by kind permission of the Warden and Scholars) 3598 m.7 (Priors Hall leet, 18 Dec. 1507): Ad hanc curiam compertum est per homagium quod Johannes Clerke languens in extremis extra curiam ante istam curiam secundum consuetudines manerij sursumreddit in manum domini per manun Thome Parant tenentis in presencia aliorum tenentum domini unum tenementum custumarium cum pertinentiis vocatum Smertes ad opus Katerine uxoris eius pro termino vite sue Remanere inde post decessum ipsius Katerine Jacobo Clerke filio eorundum Johannis & Katerine uxoris eius heredibus & assignatis ipsius Jacobi Cui quidem Katerine liberata est seisina Tenendum sibi pro termino vite sue de domino ad voluntatem domini secundum consuetudines manerij…Remanere inde prefato Jacobo heredibus & assignatis suis prout supradictum est…

^32A Sheehan, op. cit., n. 12, supra, 253–4; Hyams, op. cit., n. 25, supra., 69–74; Bennett, H. S., Life on the English Manor reprint (1977), 248–51Google Scholar.

³³ Levett, A. E., Studies in Manorial History reprint (1962), 208–34Google Scholar.

³⁴ Ibid., 209; Sheehan, op. cit., n. 12, supra, 254. A possible example of a non-ecclesiastical lordship holding this jurisdiction by the early fourteenth century is the Honour of Knaresborough: Collins, F. (ed.), Wills and Administrations from the Knaresborough Court Rolls, I, Surtees Society civ (1900), xixGoogle Scholar.

³⁵ Sheehan, op. cit., n. 12, supra, 270–4.

³⁶ Harvey, op. cit., n. 27, supra, 306–7, 309; C. C. Dyer, “The Social and Economic Background to the Rural Revolt of 1381”; Hilton, R. H. and Aston, T. H. (eds.), The English Rising of 1381 (1984), 27–33Google Scholar; Levett, op. cit., n. 33, supra, 79, 138, 149–50; L. A. Slota, “Law, Land Transfer, and Lordship in Thirteenth and Fourteenth Century England,” Law and History Review (forthcoming).

³⁷ The manor of Alrewas (Staffordshire) does not appear to have adopted any variant of the deathbed transfer during the later middle ages. All the surviving manor court records from Alrewas between 1344 and 1470 were searched, and nothing resembling a deathbed transfer as it has been described in our article has been found. Staffordshire Record Office D(W)D/3/31–D(W)D/3/136.

³⁸ For example “A customary of the lorde Archbishoppe of Canterburye for the dominyon and lordship of south Mallinge in the county of Sussexe conformede in the fourth yeare of the raigne of King Edwarde the Thirde late of Inglande Kinge.” “Also we saye that the beadle or his deputye with two of the tenants hath authoritye to take surrender of all coppyehollde within the saide beadlewicke of any tenant in extremes so that he presete it at the Nexte coorte after the death of the tenant els to stand voide.” Customals of the Sussex Manor of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Redwood, B. C. and Wilson, A. E. (eds.), (1958) 57 Sussex Records Society, 137Google Scholar.

³⁹ Public Record Office (hereafter PRO) DL30.65.817 (High Easter court, 10 May 1361): Ad istam curiam venit Thomas Bowyere bedellus domini cunt Galfridus Poynaunt in sua magna egritudine tamen sanus mente secundum consuetudines manerij ut dicitur el reddidit tria quaneria terre customarie cum suis pertinentiis vocata Yonges boven el modo in ista plena curia venit predictus Thomas et sursumreddit in manum domini predicta tria quarteria terre…ad opus Johannis Poynaunt…et quia videtur senescallo curie quod nullus tenens ad voluntatem domini possit se dimittere de terris et tenementis…absque licencia domini et hoc in plena curia prefata redditio…non allocator sed pro nullo tenetur…et statim venit communitas villate de Alta Estre et similiter communitas de Waltham et dicunt quod est consuetudo usitata in utraque villata et a tempore quo non existat memoria…quod quilibet nalivus domini et quicumque tenens in bondagio domini eger et languens non potens ire ad curiam…potuit reddere in manum praepositi seu bedelli villatarum predictarum tenementa sua…ita quod ipse praepositus aut bedellus in curia…sursumredderet illud tenementum in manum domini ad opus perquisitorum…

⁴⁰ PRO.DL30.58.719 (Barnston court, 10 Apr 1420):…Tamen quia ista sursumreddicio non videtur curie esse effectionalis pro eo quod Ballivus huius manerij…non interfuit ad recipiendum sursumreddicionem prediclam nee aliquis tenens huius manerij interfuit cum predicto Johanne Cook tempore sursumreddicionis predicte ad testificandum predictam sursumreddicionem…[but because the four witnesses] testificaverunt per eorum sacramentum quod sursumreddicio predicti Johannis Neel est vera & fideliter facta fuit prout superius expressator habito respectu ad testificacionem & iuramentum predictorum quatuor hominum de sua gratia speciale [the lord] concessit predicta mesuagium & terram…Memorandum tamen inhibitum est de cetero nulla talis sursumreddicio facta sit nisi in presencia duorum vel trium tenentum illud testificantum.

^40A See generally, Simpson, A. W. B., An Introduction to the History of the Land Law (1961)Google Scholar, ch. 8.

⁴¹ Cathedral Archives and Library, Canterbury, U15.11.3 (Bocking court, 6 Oct. 1383): Ad hanc curiam venerunt Johannes Gray & Margeria uxor eius & dant domino de fine ad rehabendum statum in tenemento quod ipsa nuper languens sursumreddidit in manum ballivi tenendum de domino ut in pristino stato suo.…

⁴² An interesting American case that creates a hitherto undiscovered property interest christened a “contingent equitable interest in remainder” is Farkas v. Williams 125 N.E. 2d 600 (1955) noted in Dukeminier, J. and Johanson, S., Wills, Trusts and Estates, 3rd ed., (1984), 505Google Scholar, who suggest the interest ought to be called a “Farkas.”

⁴³ Sheehan, op. cit., n. 12, supra, 274.

⁴⁴ Dewindt, Anne, “A Peasant Land Market and its Participants: King's Ripton, 1280–1400” (1978) 4 Midland History, 158 n. 36Google Scholar: Rogerus Dyke qui mortuus est legavit Mariotefilie Hugonis Russel unam placiam de perquistione suo continentem i rodam que dat domino etc. i d. (cited from British Library Add. Roll 34770).

⁴⁵ PRO.DL30.58.718 (Barnston court, 30 May 1407):…Voluntas—Et…quia testatum est quod ultima voluntas predicti Thome fuit quod Agnes filia predicti Thome Bastard haberet predicta terram & tenementa sibi & heredibus suis imperpetuum Ideo per considerationem domini & curie predicta mesuagium & dimidia virgata terre liberantur Alicie Baker matri predicte Agnetis ad custodiendum usque ad plenam etatem.…

⁴⁶ NCO 3620 m.7v (Priors Hall leet, 15 Dec 1417): Jurati dicunt quod Thomas Douce qui de domino tenuit duos acras & i rodam terre obiit post ultimam curiam Et predicti jurati dicunt quod predictus Thomas declaravit volo quod Agnes uxor mea habeat dictam terram sibi & heredibus suis nulla alia sursumreddicione inde facta nisi per talia verba superius declarata unde consulendum esl cum consilio domini si per talia verba sursumreddicionis effectum capere poterit nee ne.

⁴⁷ Ibid. m.9v (Priors Hall court, 11 July 1419):…Et habito respectu ad voluntatem predicti Thome coram predictis [three witnesses] declaratam dominus de sua gratia speciale concessit predictam terram predicte Agneti Tenendum eidem Agneti & heredibus suis de domino ad voluntatem.…

⁴⁸ E.g. Gomme, G. L., (ed.), Court Rolls of Tooting Bee Manor (London, 1909), 52–3, 78–81, 100–1, 116–17, 136–9, 146–9, 150–1, 152–3, 156–7, 158, 190–1, 196, 198–9, 202–3, 206–7, 214–15, 218–19Google Scholar. At this manor between 1394 and 1422, “out-of-court” surrenders into the bailiffs hands (though it is never made entirely clear whether the grantor is actually on his or her “deathbed”) accounted for 21 property transfers, compared with 23 “normal” surrender-and-admission-type transfers.

⁴⁹ NCO 3698 m.5v (Takeley court, 23 Mar. 1407): Cum alias ad curiam hic tentam die Mercurie proximo post Hokemonday anno regni regis Henrici sexto Johannes Bernard sursumreddidit in manum domini per manum Petri Bakere ballivi…quinque acras & unam rodam terre custotnarie ad opus Ricardi Payn qui quidem Ricardus licet sepius premunitus dictam terram hic in curia recipere non curavit sed in presencia…tenentum dictam terram recusavit & nichil inde solvere voluit…Et modo ad hanc curiam venit predictus Johannes Bernard & petit admitti ad dictam terram habendum ut in pristino statu suo Cui quidem Johanni predicta terra concessa est Tenendum sibi & heredibus ad voluntatem domini…Et dat de fine ut patet.…

⁵⁰ Section V.

⁵¹ Jack Goody's “Introduction” to Goody, Thirsk and Thompson (eds.), op. cit. n. 2, supra, provides a useful description of the application of the concept of strategy to inheritance. More detailed consideration can be found in the work of anthropologists, particularly, Barth, F., Models of Social Organization (1966)Google Scholar; Bourdieu, P., An Outline of Practice (1977) and his “Les stratégies matrimoniales dans le systeme de reproduction” (1972) 27 Annales E.S.C.Google Scholar

⁵² Bourdieu, Outline, 59–71; Goody, J., Production and Reproduction: A comparative study of the domestic domain (1986), 86–98Google Scholar.

⁵³ Bourdieu, “Les stratégies matrimoniales” 1106–7; contrasted with Davis, N. Zemon, “Ghosts, Kin and Progeny: Some features of family life in early modem France” (1973) DaedalusGoogle Scholar.

⁵⁴ Ibid., 92.

⁵⁵ In a forthcoming article, Bonfield proposes to use the results of microsimulation exercises to calculate percentages of family heads in the medieval English peasantry who would have been able to construct a strategy.

⁵⁶ Swinburne, H., A Brief Treatise of Testaments and Last Wills (1590)Google Scholar.

⁵⁷ Essex Record Office (hereafter ERO) D/AER 1/35.

⁵⁸ ERO D/DTu M244 m.61v (Great Waltham court, 23 Jan 1483): Adhanc curiam compertum est per homagium quod Johannis Artor senior languens in extremis extra curiam post ultimam curiam sursumreddidit in manum Thome Everard bedelli huius manerij in presencia Thome Wayte Willelmi Ram & Johannis Whitlok tenentum eiusdem manerij unum tenementum…ad opus Agnetis nuper uxoris prefati Johannis Artor senioris Cui quidem Agneti nunc vidue domina Regina concessit inde seisinam Tenendum eidem Agneti & assignatis suis pro termino vite sue sub condicione quod eadem Agnes sola vivat & non maritata durante tola vita sua Tenendum de domina Regina ad voluntatem per omnia anliqua servicia Ita quod post mortem predicte Agnetis vel quando sit maritata tunc [one or two words illegible] tamdiu dictum tenementum cum suis pertinentiis remaneat Johanni Artor filio & heredi predicti Johannis Artor senioris Tenendum eidem Johanni Artor filio & heredibus suis Proviso quod idem Johannes Artor filius post mortem dicte Agnetis vel postquam ipsa remaritata fuerit solvat seu solvi facerit Ricardo fratri suo xl s. bone monete & Edithe sorori sue & modo uxori Willelmi Goos xl s. bone monete ac Emme sorori ipsius Edithe & modo uxori Thome Knyghtbregge xx s. bone monete & Alicie sorori ipsius Emme & nunc uxori Willelmi Bygelon xx s. bone monete.…

⁵⁹ Ibid.: Ad hanc curiam compertum est per homagium quod dictus Johannes Artor senior languens in extremis extra curiam post ultimam curiam sursumreddit in manum dicti Thome Everard bedelli…unum tenementum…vocatum Aleynes & unum quarterium terre de molland ac unum quarterium customarie…ad opus dicte Agnetis nuper uxoris…cui vero Agneti domina Regina concessit inde seisinam Tenendum eidem pro termino vite sue de domina ad voluntatem…Ita quod post mortem prefate Agnetis omnia predicta tenementa & quarteria terre…remaneant Ricardo Artorfilio predicti Johannis Artor senioris & heredibus ipsius Ricardi.…

⁶⁰ Ibid.: Ad hanc curiam compertum est per homagium quod prefatus Johannes Artor senior languens in extremis extra curiam post ultimam curiam sursumreddidit in manum dicti Thome Everard bedelli…unam croftam terre vocatam Tumorscroft ad opus prefate Agnetis Cui domina Regina concessit inde seisinam Tenendum eidem Agneti & assignatis suis pro termino vite sue de domina Regina ad voluntatem…Ita quod post mortem prefate Agnetis dicta crofta terre cum suis pertinentüs remaneat prefato Ricardo Artor filio dicti Johannis Artor senioris & heredibus ipsius Ricardi Proviso semper quod idem Ricardus [one or two words illegible] post obitum dicte Agnetis solvent seu solvi facerit prefate Edithe xiij s. iiijd. bone monete.…

⁶¹ Ibid.: Ad hanc curiam compertum est quod dictus Johannes Artor senior iacens in mortali lecto extra curiam post ultimam curiam sursumreddidit in manum predicti Thome Everard bedelli…unum tenementum & tria quarteria terre vocata Poliarde…ad opus dicte Agnetis cui domina Regina concessit inde seisinam Tenendum eidem Agneti & heredibus suis de domina Regina ad voluntatem per antiqua servicia ac solvendo Willelmo Hull vj s. viij s. bone monete.…

⁶² ERO D/ABW 33/386: “…Item I geve & bequeth to Thomas my sonne my howse & lande at Wickham & also my howse & lands at Totham Hill called Gardeners otherwise Paines he for to have it at his age of xiiij yeres and his mother to have it tyll that tyme.…”

⁶³ Guildhall Library, London, 10312/216 (Wickham court, 2 May 160): Homagium presentat quod Willelmus Samwell qui tenuit de domino per virgam secundum consuetudines manerij sibi & heredibus suis unum tenementum et xiij acras terre adiacentes vocation Smethestenement & unam croftam terre inclusam vocatam Crouchcroft… & unum gardinum vocatum Smethegarden cum quadam fabrica in eadem edificata…Qui quidem Willelmus Samwell obiitpost ultimam curiam…Tamen ipse ante mortem suam languens in extremis & in peiculo mortis per manum Gilberti Wodeward deputi Ballivi domini ibidem in presencia Johannis Peachy & Ricardi Sanghall tenentum domini ad hoc iuratorum & testimonium perhibemum sursumreddidit in manum domini predicta tenementum & terram cum pertinentü ad opus et usum sequentes videlicet ad opus Margerie uxoris sue quousque Thomas Samwell filius ipsius Willelmi pervenerit ad etatem quatuordecim annorum & post termini illius finem remanet prefato Thome Samwell & heredibus suis imperpetuum cui quidem Margerie dominus per senescallum suum concessit inde seisinam.…

⁶⁴ Norfolk Record Office, reg. Multon fo. 66 (will dated 19 August 1497, probated 24 October 1497):…Item volo quod omnes oves mee & omnes eque & equi mei & omnia grana mea pervenienta de vestura omnium terrarum mearum…equaliter in duas partes unde volo quod una pars remaneat Cecilie uxori mee & altera pars inde remaneat executoribus meis.…

⁶⁵ Ibid.:…Item volo quod executores mei vendant mesuagium meum in Runton cum omnibus term et tenementis in Runton predicta Beeston & Crowmer cum pertinentüs ac unam carectam & denarios provenientes ac omnia debita mea…remaneant executoribus meis ad omnia premisa perimplenda debita mea persolvenda…ac…pro anima mea & animis omnium benefactorum meorum distribuenda & exequanda.…

⁶⁶ PRO.DL30.102.1408 m.12 (Beeston Regis court, 23 November 1497):…Thomas Makke languidens in extremis extra curiam secundum consuetudinem manerij sursumreddidit in manus domini per manus Johnannis Wynter nativi tenentis in presencia Roberti Makke Johannis Mors similiter nativorum tenentum et aliorum de homagio…ad opus Ricardi Makke capellani et Roberti Makke executorum testamenti dicti Thome Makke ad vendenda et denarios inde provenientes ad disponendos secundum voluntatem ipsius Thome quibus liberata est eis seisina…et fecerunt domino fidelitatem etc. These pious or charitable “bequests” in manorial-court records have been studied extensively by Professor Elaine Clark, who will discuss them at length in E. Clark, The Quest for Security in Medieval England (forthcoming).

⁶⁷ Ibid. m.12v (Beeston Regis court, 14 February 1498):…Ricardus Makke capellanus & Robertus Makke executores testamenti Thome Makke virtute testamenti & ultime voluntatis eiusdem Thome vendunt…omnem terram soliatam & nativam quondam dicti Thome Makke…ad opus Willelmi Miller nuper de Handworth Johanne uxoris eius & Roberti filij dictorum Willelmi Miller & Johanne heredum & assignatorum eorum.…

⁶⁸ PRO.DL30.102.1408 m.12 (Beeston Regis court, 23 November 1497):…tenenda eis heredibus et assignatis eorum in forma predicta per virgam ad voluntatem domini.…

⁶⁹ Clark, op. cit., n. 66, supra, concurs in viewing this as a conditional interest and cites cases where failure by the executors to proceed expeditiously resulted in seigneurial intervention.