Villein
English Law: Villein in the Past
A species of slave during the feudal times.’
Developments
The feudal villein of the lowest order was unprotected as to property (see more about this popular legal topic in the U.K. encyclopedia) and subjected to the post ignoble services; but his circumstances were very different from the slave of the southern states, for no person was, in the eye of the law, a villein, except as to his master; about all other people he was a freeman. Litt. Ten. s. 189, 190; Hallam’s View of the Middle Ages, vol. i. 122, 124; vol. ii. 199. [1][rtbs name=”history-of-english-law”]
Resources
Notes and References
- Partialy, this information about villein is based on the Bouvier´s Law Dictionary, 1848 edition. There is a list of terms of the Bouvier´s Law Dictionary, including villein.
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