The Dred Scott vs. Sanford case was a slave incident that occurred in America. In 1834 Dred Scott, a negro slave of Missouri, was taken by his master, who was a surgeon in the regular army, first into Illinois and then into Minnesota, a region from which slavery was expressly excluded by the celebrated Missouri Compromise of 1820. While in MinnesotaDred Scott was married with his master's consent, but on being brought back to Missouri in 1838, he and his wife and children were sold to another master.
Dred Scott brought action for trespass in a St Louiscourt, and a decision was made in his favour on the ground that, under the provisions of the Missouri Compromise, the negro was free. The Supreme Court of Missouri reversed this decision, and the case came before the Federal CircuitCourt in 1854. The defendant slave-holder pleaded that Dred Scott was not a citizen entitled to sue and be sued in the US Courts. The court held the contrary, but the jury's verdict decided the plaintiff still a slave. The case came before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1857. Here the judgment of the CircuitCourt was reversed, and the case dismissed on the ground that no negro, bond or free, could plead in the US Courts as a citizen. The court then, though denying its jurisdiction over the dispute, discussed the constitutional points. Dred Scott's status in Illinois was declared determined by his Missouridomicile. As regarded the Minnesota Territory the court declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional and void, it being held that States alone could prohibit slavery from their boundaries. Chief Justice Taney read the opinion of a majority of the court, all slave-holders, declaring 'negroes so inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect'. Justices Curtis and McLean dissented. Dred Scott was afterwards freed by his master. The decision and case roused great excitement in the North. Research Dred Scott vs. Sanford
The Feudal System is that system by which land (known as a, fief) is held by a vassal on condition of fidelity, that is, in consideration of services to be rendered to his superior or feudal lord. The nature of the feudal system is to be explained by its origin amongst the Germanic tribes.
In the earliest times the relation of superior and vassal did not exist in connection with the ownership of land. Each freeman had his share of the tribe lands, which were held simply on condition of his fulfilling his public duties of attendance at the councils of the mark or township and performing his share of military service in the wars or musters decreed at such councils. The noble had, of course, more land and more influence than the simple freeman, but there need be no tie of vassalage between them. This seems to have been the primitive social organization of the Anglo-Saxons and other German tribes. The lands held by all freemen, whether noble or ordinary freemen, under this system, are said to be allodial, as distinguished from feudal lands, which imply service to a superior lord.
By the close of the 10th century, however, this system had undergone considerable modifications. The masses of Teutonic invaders who overran Gaul and England had necessarily to confer exceptional powers on their leaders; and as they were for long very much in the position of military in an enemy's country, these powers were naturally continued. Thus it was that kings, before unknown to the Anglo-Saxons, make their appearance immediately after their descent upon Britain. It was common for a chief or great man to have a retinue or body-guard composed of valiant youths, who were furnished by the chief with arms and provisions, and who in return devoted themselves to his service. These companions (Anglo-Saxon, Gesithas; German, Gesellen) originally received no pay except their arms, horses, and provisions, and the portion of the spoils which remained after the chieftain had taken his own share. But when conquered lands came to be apportioned and large districts fell into the hands of kings or dukes and their subordinates, they gave certain portions of the territory to their attendants to enjoy for life. These estates were called beneficia or fiefs, because they were only lent to their possessors, to revert after their death to the grantor, who immediately gave them to another of his servants on the same terms.
As the son commonly esteemed it his duty, or was forced by necessity, to devote his arm to the lord in whose service his father had lived, he also received his father's fief; or rather, he was invested with it anew. By the usage of centuries this custom became a right and the fief became hereditary. A fief rendered vacant by the death of the holder was at once taken possession of by his son, on the sole condition of paying homage to the feudal superior. Thus a feudal nobility and a feudal system arose and for a time existed alongside of the old allodial system. But gradually the greater security to be got by putting one's self under the protection of some powerful ruler or leader gave the feudal system the predominance. The free proprietor of landed property, oppressed by powerful neighbours, sought refuge in submitting to some more powerful nobleman, to whom he surrendered his land, receiving it back as a vassal.
Even the inferior nobility found it to be to their advantage to have themselves recognized as feudatories of the nearest duke or earl; and as the royal power steadily advanced, the offices of duke, ealdorman, gerefa, etc., were always bestowed by the king. Thus the crown became the source of all authority and possession in the country. The land which had once been 'folcland,' or the land of the people, became the land of the king, from whom all titles to it were held to be derived. Such at least was the development of feudalism in England, where its centralizing tendencies, especially in the matter of holding land from the crown, were strongly reinforced by the circumstances of the conquest under William The Conqueror. Under him and his immediate successors there was a struggle between royalty and the nobility, which ended in the power of the latter sinking before that of the kings.
On the other hand, in Germany, France, and elsewhere on the Continent, the disintegrating tendencies of feudalism as a system of government had full play. In these countries the weakening of the kingly authority encouraged the great feudal dukes and counts to set up in an almost absolute independence, which in France was afterwards gradually lost as the monarchy grew stronger, but in Germany continued to divide the land down almost to modern times into a number of petty principalities.
Among the chief agencies that overthrew the feudal system were the rise of cities, the change in modes of warfare, and the spread of knowledge and civilization. The spirit of the feudal system, grounded on the prevalence of landed property, was necessarily foreign to cities which owed their origin to industry and personal property, and founded thereon a new sort of power. The growth of this new class, with its wealth and industrial importance, has contributed more than anything else to a social and political development before which the old feudal relations of society have almost totally disappeared. Even yet, however, the laws relating to land still bear the stamp of feudalism in various countries. Research Feudal
A fountain-pen is a refillable pen which carries its own supply of ink which runs to the writing point as required from a reservoir in the holder. Research Fountain-pen
The Iron Crown is a crown of gold set with jewels, made originally for the kings of Lombardy, and deriving its name from the fact that it enclosed within its round a circlet of iron, said to have been forged from one of the nails used in the crucifixion of Christ. It was supposed to confer upon the holder sovereignty over all Italy. Napoleon I was crowned with the Iron Crown at Milan on May the 26th, 1805. Research Iron Crown
In Britain, a manor was a landed estate granted on such terms that the right of property carried with it rights of jurisdiction. It was of the nature of a feudal lordship, and the holder of the manor, the lord, could extract certain fees etc from his tenants, the ordinary people living on the land. Research Manor
A merry thought (or wish-bone) is the forked bone of a fowl's breast which is used in sport by unmarried persons, each taking hold of and pulling at one of the forks, the possession of the longest piece being an omen of an early marriage to the one who gets it. In other folk-lore, the holder of the longest piece gets to make a wish. Research Merry thought
In 1743 members of the Scottish Reformed Presbyterians church, who were settled in the American colonies, organized and subscribed to the Old Scottish Covenant. In 1798 the first Presbytery was formed, and two years later it ordained that no slave-holder should be admitted to membership. In 1833 a schism took place on the church's attitude toward the State. The main body now ruled that its members should not act as American citizens nor in any way identify themselves with the political system of the United States, a position that was still maintained as late as 1897. Research Reformed Presbyterians
In old Scots law, thirlage was a term applied to a tenure of land, the holder of which was obliged to have his grain ground at a specified mill, paying therefore a certain proportion of the flour. Research Thirlage
Alexander Barclay was a British poet. He was born about 1475 probably in Scotland and died in 1552. For some years he was a priest and chaplain of St Mary Ottery, in Devonshire, afterwards he was a Benedictinemonk of Ely, subsequently a Franciscan, and latterly the holder of one or two livings. His principal work was a satire, entitled The Shyp of Folys of this Worlde, part translation and part imitation of Brandt's Narrenschiff (Ship of Fools), and printed by Pynson in 1509. He also wrote a Myrrour of Good Manors, and some Egloges (Eclogues), both printed by Pynson, as well as translations, etc. Research Alexander Barclay
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Coupon
