The enduring power of feudalism has been brought to attention by the passing on 12 October of a deadline for the registration of ancient property rights. These are rights previously held by the \u201clord of the manor\u201d. They do not appear in title deeds and were often unknown to property purchasers.<\/p>\n
They include the right of the state church to demand money for repairs to its buildings. In 2009 Gail and Andrew Wallbank were forced into bankruptcy when they fought a demand from the Church of England for \u00a3230,000 for church repairs.<\/p>\n
According to the Financial Times the new registration requirement \u201chighlights the enduring power of institutions including the Crown, Church Commissioners, ancient charities, aristocratic families and the landed gentry\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Land Registry has notified 82,000 property owners that others have made claims against their land. These claims could cover ownership of minerals found below the surface and access to gas and oil.<\/p>\n
The Church of England has mineral rights over more than 500,000 acres of other people’s land. The \u201caristocrats\u201d of the Lonsdale family, who control 30,000 acres of Cumbria countryside, have also applied to register feudal rights, as have \u201cvarious lords, dukes and barons\u201d according to the Land Registry. The number of other individuals and companies registering claims is few.<\/p>\n
One \u201clord of the manor\u201d has found out that not everyone accepts feudal rights. Tim Shoreland of South Gloucester withdrew his registration application when he was threatened by those whose land he claimed rights over.<\/p>\n
Instead of abolishing rights based on feudal privilege the new requirement for registration gives them a veneer of legitimacy. If valuable minerals are found below your property you may find that they belong not to you but to the descendants of robber barons. The British state has now said that this is as it should be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The enduring power of feudalism has been brought to attention by the passing on 12 October of a deadline for the registration of ancient property rights. These are rights previously held by the \u201clord of the manor\u201d. They do not appear in title deeds and were often unknown to property purchasers. They include the right […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-republic"],"yoast_head":"\n