The Application of Theory: The Language of Economic Ethics in Statutes and Petitions

Hole, Jennifer

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-38860-1_5

Jennifer Hole³

Part of the book series: Archival Insights into the Evolution of Economics ((AIEE))

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Abstract

Did ethical principles relating to economic life have any impact or application in secular society? Did they, for example, influence how regulations were worded and applied? What do the written petitions of those with grievances reveal about their expectations of justice, the common good and good lordship and their actual experiences? To answer these questions, this chapter investigates three kinds of evidence: statutes regulating economic activity in late medieval England; petitions against economic abuses; and cases involving abuses of the right of purveying, extortion by lords and their officials, unreasonable tallage, fines and tolls, and land enclosures. This chapter shows how moralistic language was used by petitioners and regulators in order to empasise economic wrongs. Criticism of purveying abuses saw greed as the underlying problem. However, criticism of extortion and oppression by lords was limited owing to the power of lords in late medieval England: targets were more often gentry landowners or lords' officials. The ethical problems created by some land enclosures were not addressed until very late in the fifteenth century, probably because so many Parliamentarians tended to be landowners.

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Notes

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Hole, J. (2016). The Application of Theory: The Language of Economic Ethics in Statutes and Petitions. In: Economic Ethics in Late Medieval England, 1300–1500. Archival Insights into the Evolution of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38860-1_5

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