The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social StructureChris Briggs
How should we characterise interactions between ordinary medieval folk and the law? The topic might conjure up images of draconian punishments for petty crimes, or the arbitrary treatment of villagers at the hands of landlords and sheriffs, perhaps influenced by the legends of Robin Hood.
One might imagine, too, that if things were bad for medieval England’s peasantry in general, then the experiences before the law of that subset of the peasantry who were unfree serfs (or ‘villeins’) must have been even worse. Even if you don’t believe that law was an instrument of class oppression in the past, you might still assume that the structures of the law were designed primarily to meet the needs of those who had most wealth and influence.