Tillage Act 1533
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1533 c. 13 |
| Year | 1533 |
(25 Hen. 8) C A P. XIII.
'FOrasmuch as divers and sundry Persons of the King's Subjects of this Realm, to whom God of his Goodness hath disposed great Plenty and Abundance of moveable Substance, now of late within few Years have daily studied, practised, and invented Ways and Means how they might accumulate and gather together into few Hands, as well great Multitude of Farms as great Plenty of Cattle, and in especial Sheep, putting such Lands as they can get to Pasture, and not to Tillage, (2) whereby they have not only pulled down Churches and Towns, and inhanced the old Rates of the Rents of the Possessions of this Realm, or else brought it to such excessive Fines that no poor Man is able to meddle with it, but also have raised and enhanced the Prices of all manner of Corn, Cattle, Wool, Pigs, Geese, Hens, Chickens, Eggs, and such other, almost double above the Prices which have been accustomed; (3) by reason whereof a marvellous Multitude and Number of the People of this Realm be not able to provide Meat, Drink and Clothes necessary for themselves, their Wives and Children, but be so discouraged with Misery and Poverty, that they fall daily to Theft, Robbery and other Inconveniences, or pitifully die for Hunger and Cold; (4) and as it is thought by the King's most humble and loving Subjects, that one of the greatest Occasions that moveth and provoketh those greedy and covetous People so to accumulate and keep in their Hands such great Portions and Parts of the Grounds and Lands of this Realm from the occupying of the poor Husbandmen, and so to use it in Pasture, and not in Tillage, is only the great Profit that cometh of Sheep, which now be come to a few Persons Hands of this Realm, in respect of the whole Number of the King's Subjects, that some have four and twenty thousand, some twenty thousand, some ten thousand, some six thousand, some five thousand, and some more, and some less; (5) by the which a good Sheep for Victual, that was accustomed to be sold for two Shillings Four-pence,or three Shillings at the most, is now sold for six Shillings, or five Shillings, or four Shillings at the least; (6) and a Stone of clothing Wooll, that in some Shires of this Realm was accustomed to be sold for Eighteen-pence or Twenty-pence, is now sold for four Shillings, or three Shillings Four-pence at the least; and in some Countries where it hath been sold for two Shillings Four-pence, or two Shillings Eight-pence, or three Shillings at the most, it is now sold for five Shillings, or four Shillings Eight-pence the least, and so are raised in every Part of this Realm; (7) which Things, thus used, be principally to the high Displeasure of Almighty God, to the Decay of the Hospitality of this Realm, to the diminishing of the King's People, and to the Let of the Cloth-making, whereby many poor People have been accustomed to be set on Work; and in Conclusion, if Remedy be not found, it may turn to the utter Destruction and Desolation of this Realm, which God defend;' (8) It may therefore please the King's Highness, of his most gracious and godly Disposition, and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, of their Goodness and Charity, with the Assent of the Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, to ordain and enact by the Authority of the same, That no Person or Persons from the Feast of Saint the Archangel, which shall be in the Year of our Lord God 1535. shall keep, occupy or have in his Possession, in his own proper Lands, nor in the Possession, Lands nor Grounds of any other which he shall have or occupy in Farm, nor otherwise have of his own proper Cattle, in Use, Possession or Property, by any manner of Means, Fraud, Craft or Covin, above the Number of two thousand Sheep at one Time, within any Part of this Realm, of all Sorts and Kinds, (9) upon Pain to lose and forfeit for every Sheep that any Person or Persons shall have or keep above the Number limited by this Act,iii. s. iv. d. the one Half to the King our Sovereign Lord, and the other Half to such Person as will sue for the same, by original Writ of Debt, Bill, Plaint or Information in any Court of Record, in which Suit the Defendant shall not wage his Law, nor have any Essoin or Protection allowed.
II Lambs under one Year old shall not be counted Sheep.
II. Provided alway, That Lambs shall not be accounted of the Number of the Sheep prohibited by this Act, so long as they be under the Age of a Year, and not above.
III. Provided also, That if any Person having Sheep of his own, happen to be made Executor, or to be Administrator to any Person which had Sheep at his Death, or happen to be married to any Personwhich shall happen to have Sheep at the Time of the Marriage, by reason whereof the Person so being Executor or Administrator, or being so married, shall happen by such Means to be advanced, and have above the said Number of two thousand Sheep; that then in every such Case the Person so advanced to lose no Penalty for having above the Number of two thousand Sheep by such Means, so that...
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