XT.] DISTEIBUTION OF LAND IN ENGLAND. 43 



XL 



STRICT ENTAILS THE STATUTE " DE DONIS 

 CONDITIONALIBUS." 



No very remarkable change was made in laws 

 directly affecting land in England, during the 

 two centuries immediately succeeding the Norman 

 Conquest. Magna Carta defined and regulated, 

 without materially altering, the feudal tenure, and 

 promised to freemen, without distinction, the pro- 

 tection of the law against arbitrary proceedings by 

 the Crown. Nor were the villeins passed over with 

 complete neglect ; a clause, the 20th chapter of John's 

 charter, provided that if the villein were amerced, 

 his wainage should be saved. The Provisions of 

 Merton, twenty years later than Magna Carta, 

 empowered the owners of manors to appropriate a 

 portion of their waste lands, provided that enough 

 pasture was left for the use of their freehold tenants, 

 but the statute is silent respecting the villeins, though 

 now rising into copyholders. 



Great changes however, were in course of prepara- 



