Two very important statutes were passed during this reign, respecting
the free sale or transfer of land.[1]
[1] These laws may be regarded as the foundation of the English system
of landed property; they completed the feudal claim to the soil
established by William the Conqueror. They are known as the Second
Statute of Westminster (De Donis, or Entail, 1285) and the Third
Statute of Westminster (Quia Emptores, 1290). See S264 and Summary of
Constitutional History in the Appendix, p. xi, S11.
The effect of these statutes was to confine the great estates to the
hands of their owners and direct descendants, or, when land changed
hands, to keep alive the claims of the great lords or the Crown upon
it. These laws rendered it difficult for landholders to evade their
feudal duties to the King (S150) by the sale or subletting of
estates. Hence, while they often built up the strength of the great
families, they also operated to increase the power of the Crown at the
very time when the growing influence of Parliament and the people was
beginning to act as a check upon the royal authority.