Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 14

23.—(V.)

23.—(V.)

Maritagium.—The lord or guardian in chivalry had also the power of disposing of his infant ward in marriage, that is, of tendering him or her while in ward z a suitable match, which, if the wards refused, they forfeited to their guardian the value of the marriage, that is, so much as a jury would assess, or anyone would bonâ fide give to the guardian for such an alliance, and if the wards, after refusal of a suitable marriage made to them by the guardian, married themselves without the guardian's consent, they forfeited double the value of the marriage a. The following example, which is cited by Madox from ancient records, with numerous others to the same effect, will convey some idea of the value of this branch of the revenue. Geoffrey de Mandeville paid to Hy. III. 20,000 marks, that he might have to wife Isabell, Countess of Gloucester, with all her lands and knights' fees b. Hume computes that this sum would be equivalent to £300,000—perhaps £400,000—in our time c.

z There was a difference between the cases of heirs male and those of heirs female, the statute of Merton not applying to the latter, and also between the cases of marriage under fourteen and those of marriage above fourteen. See stat. Merton c. 6; 2nd Inst., 90-92; Co. Litt., 82. The result is clearly stated in Mr. Justice Coleridge's note to 2 Bl. Comm., 71 n. (10).

a Stat. Mert. cap. 6. Litt., § 110. Co. Litt., 82. 2 Inst., 90-92.

b Mad. Exch., 322.

c Hist, of England, App. II.