1. England 'seeded' colonies on this continent over a period of 125 years, from the year 1607. In the century prior to overseas expansion, the first free market or 'capitalist' society was instituted in that island nation.
2. At first consideration, it might be assumed that local, and long-range exchanges of goods by merchants are the mark of every known civilization. Not so.
Actually, at no time, "not in the ancient Mediterranean, the Middle East, China, India, pre-Columbian America, or medieval Europe- was an entire society organized by market exchange.
Likewise, although we associate the emergence of capitalism with cities such as Venice and Amsterdam and techniques such as joint-stock companies, banks, insurance, double-entry bookkeeping, and floating debts, such mercantilism involved small numbers of people dealing mostly in luxury goods. A true market society could only emerge in the countryside, where over nine out of ten people lived and earned their daily bread."
"Freedom Just Around the Corner: A New American History: 1585-1828,"byWalter A. McDougall, p. 18-19.
3. Just such an increasingly free rural market in land, labor, and basic commodities occurred in England. A major factor was the English Common Law tradition, unknown on the continent: Anglo-Saxons from northern Germany had carried over the tradition of resolving disputes by appeal to local customs, as interpreted by judges, using precedent and case law rather than laws imposed by distant, capricious rulers.
a. After 1066, the Norman kings introduced feudal law under the auspices of royal clerks, but left in placed the Common Law as described by Sir Henry Blackstone, as "the custom of the realm from time immemorial."
b. Edward I (the 'English Justinian') , enacted the Statutes of Westminster in 1275 and 1285, which made Common Law jury trials compulsory in criminal cases, and, among other things, and made land previously frozen under Frankish laws, to be legal tender for payment of court judgments.
4. Quia Emptoresis a statute passed in the reign of Edward I of England in 1290 that prevented tenants from alienating their lands to others by subinfeudation (the practice by which tenants, holding land under the king or other superior lord, carved out new and distinct tenures in their turn by sub-letting or alienating a part of their lands), instead requiring all tenants who wished to alienate their land to do so by substitution.
By effectively ending the practice of subinfeudation, Quia Emptores hastened the end of feudalism in England,...
Direct feudal obligations were increasingly being replaced by cash rents and outright sales of land which gave rise to the practice oflivery and maintenanceorbastard feudalism, the retention and control by the nobility of land, money, soldiers and servants via direct salaries, land sales and rent payments.
Quia Emptores - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
a. The result of Edward I reforms was that England now had a justice system based on contracts, adversarial jurisprudence, and traditional ideas of fairness and property rights that no king or bishop could sweep away.
And this was the tradition that the colonists expected to continue!
5. By restricting the jurisdiction of clerks to church law, Edward I created a secular profession of lawyers and judges.
6. The next step leading to a capitalist society was the fact that the kingdom of England had no internal barriers to trade, a major difference from other European realms: it was a ready-made national market for goods.
2. At first consideration, it might be assumed that local, and long-range exchanges of goods by merchants are the mark of every known civilization. Not so.
Actually, at no time, "not in the ancient Mediterranean, the Middle East, China, India, pre-Columbian America, or medieval Europe- was an entire society organized by market exchange.
Likewise, although we associate the emergence of capitalism with cities such as Venice and Amsterdam and techniques such as joint-stock companies, banks, insurance, double-entry bookkeeping, and floating debts, such mercantilism involved small numbers of people dealing mostly in luxury goods. A true market society could only emerge in the countryside, where over nine out of ten people lived and earned their daily bread."
"Freedom Just Around the Corner: A New American History: 1585-1828,"byWalter A. McDougall, p. 18-19.
3. Just such an increasingly free rural market in land, labor, and basic commodities occurred in England. A major factor was the English Common Law tradition, unknown on the continent: Anglo-Saxons from northern Germany had carried over the tradition of resolving disputes by appeal to local customs, as interpreted by judges, using precedent and case law rather than laws imposed by distant, capricious rulers.
a. After 1066, the Norman kings introduced feudal law under the auspices of royal clerks, but left in placed the Common Law as described by Sir Henry Blackstone, as "the custom of the realm from time immemorial."
b. Edward I (the 'English Justinian') , enacted the Statutes of Westminster in 1275 and 1285, which made Common Law jury trials compulsory in criminal cases, and, among other things, and made land previously frozen under Frankish laws, to be legal tender for payment of court judgments.
4. Quia Emptoresis a statute passed in the reign of Edward I of England in 1290 that prevented tenants from alienating their lands to others by subinfeudation (the practice by which tenants, holding land under the king or other superior lord, carved out new and distinct tenures in their turn by sub-letting or alienating a part of their lands), instead requiring all tenants who wished to alienate their land to do so by substitution.
By effectively ending the practice of subinfeudation, Quia Emptores hastened the end of feudalism in England,...
Direct feudal obligations were increasingly being replaced by cash rents and outright sales of land which gave rise to the practice oflivery and maintenanceorbastard feudalism, the retention and control by the nobility of land, money, soldiers and servants via direct salaries, land sales and rent payments.
Quia Emptores - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
a. The result of Edward I reforms was that England now had a justice system based on contracts, adversarial jurisprudence, and traditional ideas of fairness and property rights that no king or bishop could sweep away.
And this was the tradition that the colonists expected to continue!
5. By restricting the jurisdiction of clerks to church law, Edward I created a secular profession of lawyers and judges.
6. The next step leading to a capitalist society was the fact that the kingdom of England had no internal barriers to trade, a major difference from other European realms: it was a ready-made national market for goods.
