Aids

English Law: Aids in the Past

Formerly they were certain sums of money granted by the tenant (see more about this popular legal topic in the U.K. encyclopedia) to his lord in times of difficulty and distress, but, as usual in such cases, what was received as a gratuity by the rich and powerful from the weak and poor, was soon claimed as a matter of right; and aids became a species of tax (see more about this popular legal topic in the U.K. encyclopedia) to be paid by the tenant (see more about this popular legal topic in the U.K. encyclopedia) to his lord, in these cases: 1. To ransom the lord’s person, when taken priisoner; 2. To make the lord’s eldest son a knight; – 3. To marry the lord’s eldest daughter, by giving her a suitable portion. There is further information on this topic in this legal reference. The first of these reMaine (see more about this U.S. State laws here) d uncertain; the other two were fixed by act of parliament at twenty shillings each being the supposed twentieth part of a knight’s fee, 2 Bl. Com. 64. [1][rtbs name=”history-of-english-law”]

Resources

Notes and References

1. Partialy, this information about aids is based on the Bouvier´s Law Dictionary, 1848 edition. There is a list of terms of the Bouvier´s Law Dictionary, including aids.

See Also