58 LAND REFORM 



were made with the object of restraining the evil 

 practices referred to. But, as will be seen, the landed 

 aristocracy were strong enough, in spite of all opposi- 

 tion, to carry out their policy to completion. 



The Act 4 Henry VII, ch. 19, imposed heavy 

 penalties for "decaying Houses of Husbandry or for 

 not laying convenient land for the maintenance of the 

 same." It describes the increasing evils and desola- 

 tion resultinsf from the " wilfuU waste of Houses 

 within this realme and laying to pasture lands which 

 customably have been used for tillage." It states that 

 in some places " where two hundred persons were 

 occupied and lived by their lawful labour now there 

 are occupied two or three heardsmen, whereby hus- 

 bandrie, which is one of the greatest commodities of 

 this Realme, is greatly decayed, and the defense of 

 this land against our enemies outward feebled and 

 impaired." 



The Statute goes on to enact that at least twenty 

 acres of land shall be attached to each farmhouse, and 

 that the " owner of such house do keep and sustaine 

 the buildings on the said ground and land convenient 

 and necessairie for maintaining and upholding of the 

 said tillage and husbandrie."^ 



Another Act in the same reign provided that who- 

 soever decayeth any town, hamlet, or house of hus- 

 bandry, or shall convert tillage into pasturage, shall 

 forfeit half the profits thereof until the offence be 

 removed. 



^ Of this Act Lord Bacon writes : " By this means the houses being 

 kept up did of necessity enforce a dweller, and the proportion of land for 

 occupation being kept up did of necessity enforce that dweller not to be 

 a beggar or cottager but a man of some substance to keep hinds and set 

 the plough on going. This did wonderfully concern the might and man- 

 nerhood of the kingdom." — " History of Henry VII." 



