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The Statutes of Mortmain were two enactments, in 1279 and 1290, by King Edward I of England aimed at preserving the kingdom's revenues by preventing land from passing into the possession of the Church. Possession of property by a corporation such as the church was known as mortmain. Mortmain literally means "the dead hand." In Medieval England, feudal estates generated taxes (in the form of incidents) upon the inheritance or granting of the estate. If an estate was owned by a religious corporation that never died, attained majority, or became attainted for treason, these taxes were never paid. The Statutes of Mortmain were meant to re-establish the prohibition against donating land to the Church for purposes of avoiding feudal services which had been hinted at in the Magna Carta in 1215 and specifically defined in the Great Charter of 1217. John of England died shortly after the Magna Carta was signed. Henry III of England, the son of John, did not enforce these proscriptions. He showed great deference to the Church. His son, Edward I of England, was interested in re-establishing the precedent set in the Magna Carta and the Great Charter of 1217. The Statutes of Mortmain provided that no estate should be granted to a corporation without royal assent. The problem of Church lands persisted with the practice of cestui que use. It was finally brought to a close when Henry VIII of England disbanded the monasteries and confiscated Church lands. == Alienation and the statute of Quia Emptores == (詳細はestates. The monarch was the ultimate owner of all land in the realm, and out of his estate lesser estates existed, held by individuals known as tenants in capite. Further estates could be created out of these estates in a process called subinfeudation. Estates in land could be alienated (that is, their title could be transferred to others) in two ways. Substitution meant that the purchaser would take the estate with the same tenures and held from the same lord as the original tenant. Subinfeudation meant that the original tenant continued to hold an estate, but that a new estate would be created held of the original tenant and subsidiary to the original estate. Alienation was not always possible, and sometimes the permission of the lord was required. It is the opinion of Pollock and Maitland that in the middle of the 13th century the tenant enjoyed a large power of disposing of his tenement by act inter vivos, though this was subject to some restraints in favor of his lord.〔Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law, Vol 1., p. 329, Cambridge University Press, 1968〕 Other opinions have been expressed. Coke regarded the English tradition as one of ancient liberty dictated by custom. The tenant had relative freedom to alienate all or part of his estate.〔Coke, 2nd Inst. 65; Co. Lit. 43a〕 Blackstone was of a differing conclusion. The “learning of feuds” started with the inalienability of the fief as a starting point.〔Wright, Tenures, 154〕〔Gilbert, Tenures, p. 51-52〕〔Blackstone, Com. Ii, 71-2〕〔Pollock and Maitland, Vol 1, p. 329, ibid.〕 Pollock and Maitland believe Coke’s opinion to be the more valid one. Both views may have been true. Modern scholars may have given more weight to the written and declared law of the Normans than existed in reality.〔P & M, p. 129 ibid.〕 A consequence of the ability for owners to alienate their estates was a growth in gifts of land to the church. Estates so given were said to be in frankalmoin tenure. When estates were subinfeudated, it was detrimental to the overlord's rights. It was difficult or impossible for the overlord to extract any services (such as knight service, rent, homage ) from the new tenants, as they had no bond to the overlord. Pollock and Maitland give the following example: In the case of subinfeudation, the old tenant was liable for services to the lord. If A enfoeffed to B to hold a knight's service, and then B enfoeffed C to hold as a rent of a pound of pepper per year; B dies leaving an heir within age; A is entitled to a wardship; but it will be worth very little: instead of being entitled to enjoy the land itself until the heir is of age, he will get a few annual pounds of pepper. Instead of enjoying the land by escheat, he will only receive a trifling rent.〔Pollock and Maitland, p. 330-331, ibid.〕 Bracton gives the example of when the tenant made a gift of frankalmoin - a gift of land to the Church. A wardship would be of no value at all. An escheat of the land (a reclamation of the land by the overlord) would allow the owner to take control of the land. But the act of placing the land in frankalmoin left it in the hands of a group of lawyers or others who allowed the use of the land by a Church organization. The overlord would have nominal control of the corporation which had never entered into a feudal homage arrangement. The corporation owed nothing to the overlord. Bracton was sympathetic to this arrangement. According to him the lord is not really injured. His rights to the land remain unscathed. It is true they have been significantly diminished. He had suffered damnum, but there had been no iniuria.〔Bracton, f. 45 b, 46〕 Bracton was of the opinion that a gift of land to the Church could be voided by the heirs, but not the lord.〔Bracton, f. 169; Notebook pl. 1248〕 The statute of Quia Emptores, enacted in 1290, confirmed the ability of tenants to freely alienate their estates by substitution, and ended the possibility of alienation by subinfeudation. It also ended the possibility for further estates in frankalmoin to be created by anyone other than the king. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Statutes of Mortmain」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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