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See also: - BOROUGH (A.S. nominative burh, dative byrig, which produces some of the place-names ending in bury, a sheltered or fortified place, the camp of refuge of a tribe, the stronghold of a chieftain; cf. Ger. Burg, Fr. bor, bore, bourg)
- BOROUGH [BURROUGH, BURROWE, BORROWS], STEVEN (1525–1584)
BOROUGH See also:ENGLISH , a See also:custom prevailing in certain See also:ancient English boroughs, and in districts attached to them (where the lands are held in See also:socage), and also in certain See also:copyhold manors (chiefly in See also:Surrey, See also:Middlesex, See also:Suffolk and See also:Sussex), by which in See also:general lands descend to the youngest son, to the exclusion of all
the other See also:children, of the See also:person dying seised and intestate. Descent to the youngest See also:brother to the exclusion of all other collaterals, where there is no issue, is sometimes included in the general See also:definition, but this is really a See also:special custom to be proved from the See also:court-rolls of the See also:manor and from See also:local reputation—a custom which is sometimes extended to the youngest See also:sister, See also:uncle, aunt. Generally, however, Borough English, apart from specialties, may be said to differ from See also:gavelkind in not including collaterals. It is often found in connexion with the distinct custom that the widow shall take as See also:dower the whole and not merely one-third of her See also:husband's lands.
The origin of the custom of Borough English has been much disputed. Though frequently claimed to be of Saxon origin, there is no See also:direct See also:evidence of such being the See also:case. The first mention of the custom in See also:England occurs in Glanvil, without, however, any explanation as to its origin. See also:Littleton's explanation, which is the more usually accepted, is that custom casts the See also:inheritance upon the youngest, because after the See also:death of his parents he is least able to support himself, and more likely to be See also:left destitute of any other support. See also:Blackstone derived Borough English from the usages of See also:pastoral See also:life, the See also:elder sons migrating and the youngest remaining to look after the See also:household. C. I. See also:Elton claims it to be a survival of pre-See also:Aryan times.
It was referred to by the See also: Normans as " the custom of the English towns." In the Yearbook of 2 2 See also:Edward IV. fol. 321) it is described as the custom of See also:Nottingham, which is made clear by the See also:report of a trial in the first See also:year of Edward III. where it was found that in Nottingham there were two districts, the one the See also:Burgh-Fraun4oyes, the other the Burgh-Engloyes, where descent was to the youngest son, from which circumstance the custom has derived its name. On the See also:European See also:continent the custom of junior-rights is not unknown, more particularly in See also:Germany, and it has by some been ascribed to the See also:jus primae noctis (q.v.).
It is also said to exist amongst the See also:Mongols.
See also GAVELKIND; INHERITANCE; See also:PRIMOGENITURE; See also:TENURE;
Blackstone's Commentaries; See also:Coke's Institutes; See also:Comyn's See also:Digest of the See also:Law; Elton's Origin of English See also:History; See also:Pollock and See also:Maitland, History of English Law.
End of Article: BOROUGH ENGLISH
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