Liberty (administrative unit)

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A Liberty was an English administrative unit that originated in the Middle Ages. Traditionally defined as an area where the royal or municipal jurisdiction did not apply in full and by a Mesne Lord , so one after feudal lords was administered. This was usually a high nobleman or a bishop. The Liberties changed after legally ordered territorial reforms in the 19th century (but also before) to administrative units within the local government in England.

Liberties were areas of widely varying sizes that differed from the usual Harden and Borough system for various reasons ; usually due to the circumstances of their usage relationship (see manorial rule or freedom ). There were also liberties that, regardless of the political districts, were either very smaller than these or spanning several districts. Two liberties in the southern English county of Dorset are cited as examples : the small Liberty Fordington and the large Liberty of Waybayouse .

In northern England, the Lord of Bowland (also called "Lord of the Fells") ruled over the Liberty of Forest of Bowland , which comprised the areas of ten mansions , eight townships and four parishes .

The Elizabethan theater could only develop in the Liberties, whose freedoms were downright eponymous here. While theater was largely banned or strictly regulated in the City of London and also in large areas of England , theaters like the Liberty of the Clink (which was under the Bishop of Winchester ) or the Liberty of Paris Garden could be found in these districts the Globe Theater by William Shakespeare , which The Rose and The Swan unfold freely. But prostitution, which is prohibited elsewhere, or the dubious amusements of animal hunting ( bear and bull baiting ) could also be held here.

A law passed in 1836 ended the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of York and that of the Bishop of Ely in several liberties. And the Liberties Act of 1850 allowed liberties to be amalgamated within their counties until only a handful remained: Isle of Ely , Havering-atte-Bower, St Albans , Peterborough , Ripon and Haverfordwest . St. Albans was later incorporated into Hertfordshire in 1875 . The Liberty of Ely Act 1837 dissolved that as well. Isle of Ely was an independent county from Cambridgeshire from 1889 to 1965 . In 1965 it was united with Cambridgeshire to form the new county of Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely .

The Local Government Act of 1888 led to the termination of all remaining special jurisdictions of the Liberties in April 1889: the Isle of Ely and Soke of Peterborough became administrative districts, while the three remaining Liberties were combined with their surrounding counties.

Inner and Middle Temples

The Inner Temple and Middle Temple areas in London refer to themselves as Liberties, based on a Letters patent from 1608 and have been able to maintain a high degree of independence to this day. They are also outside the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. While geographically within the confines of the City of London, they can be considered as independent enclaves. The functions of their local self-government were determined by the Royal Privy Council in 1971 in the "Temples Order 1971".

List of former liberties

Ireland

The term "Lliberty" was first used in Ireland after the Norman conquest .

Prison liberties

The term Liberty was also used in England for a demarcated area near prisons, in which convicts could live more freely for regular payments in a kind of open prison . Examples are the Liberty of the Fleet in London or the Rules of the Bench in Southwark.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sir Thomas Edlyne Tomlins, John Raithby: The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: Volume 5, p.427 . 1814.
  2. ↑ Our Lord of the Fells Longridge & Ribble Valley News, December 12, 2008
  3. ↑ That Wicker Man Moment, from the official forest website ( Memento from July 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Origins of the Liberty of Ely in British History Online
  5. ^ Middle Temple as a Local Authority . Archived from the original on September 30, 2012. Retrieved October 7, 2012.
  6. ↑ SI 1971 No.1732
  7. ^ Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Orton . www.ParishRegister.co.uk. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
  8. ^ A Topographical Dictionary of England
  9. ^ National Archive England Census 1881 Staffordshire, Wolverhampton, Trysull. Description of the numbered district 10
  10. ^ The Anglo-French (Norman) Invasion of Ireland: Irish History . Retrieved April 16, 2018.