Folc Land - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition folc-land

Definition :

Folc-land, the land of the folk or people. It was the property of the community. It might be occupied in common or possessed in severalty: and in the latter case, it was probably parcelled out to individuals in the fole-gemot or Court of the district: and the grant sanctioned by the freemen there present. But while it continued to be folc-land it could not be alienated in perpetuity; and therefore, on the expiration of the term for which it had been granted, it reverted to the community, and was again distributed by the same authority. Spelman describes folc-land as terra popularis qu' jure communi possidetur-sine scripto (Gloss. Voce Folc-land). In another placehe distinguishes it accurately from bocland: Pr'dia Saxones duplici titulo possidebant: vel scripti auctoritate, quod bocland vocabant, vel populi testimonio, quod folcland dixere (ibid. voce Bocland).

Folc-land was subject to many burthens and exactions from which bocland was exempt. The possessors of folc-land were bound to assist in the reparation of royal vills and other public works. They were liable to have travellers and others quartered on them. They were required to give hospitality to kings and great men in their progresses through the country, to furnish carriages and horses to them and to their messengers and servants, and those who had charge of their hawks, horses, and bounds. From these burthens the lands were liberated when converted by charter into bocland. See Allen's Inquiry into the Rise and Progress of the Royal Prerogative in England, 143-149.