A specimen of a fine from 1303, including both parties' chirographs and the foot of the fine at the bottom
A foot of fine (plural, feet of fines; Latin: pes finis; plural, pedes finium) is the archival copy of the agreement between two parties in an Englishlawsuit over land, most commonly the fictitious suit (in reality a conveyance) known as a fine of lands or final concord. The procedure was followed from around 1195 until 1833, and the considerable body of resulting records is now held at The National Archives, Kew, London.
History
In the reign of Henry II of England, the royal justices first began the practice of registering the settlement of disagreements over land by having both parties bring a suit before the royal courts. The resulting decision was thus given royal sanction.
At first, two copies of the agreement ("fine") were made, created as chirographs: i.e. the text was written in duplicate on a single piece of parchment, which was then cut in half, one copy going to each of the litigants. Under Hubert Walter's justiciarship, probably about 1195, the practice was started of writing the text in triplicate, so that a third copy could be filed in the Treasury. This copy of the text was written at the foot of the piece of parchment, and so became known as the "foot of the fine", or simply "foot of fine".
The first recorded foot of fine is endorsed with the statement "This is the first chirograph that was made in the king's court in the form of three chirographs, according to the command of his lordship of Canterbury and other barons of the king, to the end that by this form a record can be made to be passed on to the treasurer to put in the treasury."[1] The agreement concerns Walter's brother Theobald, who was the plaintiff.[2]
Within a few years, the practice of recording feet of fines had spread widely, and even to Scotland, as in 1198 an agreement between William de Bruce of Annandale and Adam of Carlisle over eight ploughgates in Lockerbie, Scotland was filed with the English treasury, recorded with those from Northumberland.[2] While early fines could be made in the Exchequer, after the early 14th century, fines were always made in the Court of Common Pleas.
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Feet of Fines of the reign of Henry II and of the first seven years of the reign of King Richard I, A.D. 1182 to A.D. 1196. Pipe Roll Society. Vol. 17. 1894.
Feet of Fines of the seventh and eighth years of the reign of King Richard I, A.D. 1196 to A.D. 1197. Pipe Roll Society. Vol. 20. 1896.
Feet of Fines of the ninth year of the reign of King Richard I, A.D. 1197 to A.D. 1198. Pipe Roll Society. Vol. 23. 1898.
Feet of Fines of the tenth year of the reign of King Richard I, A.D. 1198 to A.D. 1199, excepting those for the counties of Bedford, Berkshire, Buckingham, Cambridge, Devon, and Dorset. Also a Roll of the King's Court in the reign of King Richard I. Pipe Roll Society. Vol. 24. 1900.
Fowler, G. Herbert, ed. (1919). A Calendar of the Feet of Fines for Bedfordshire, preserved in the Public Record Office, of the reigns of Richard I, John, and Henry III. Bedfordshire Historical Record Society. Vol. 6.
Fowler, G. Herbert, ed. (1924). "A Calendar of the Feet of Fines for Bedfordshire, pt. 3: Reign of Edward I, with some earlier fines". Miscellanea. Bedfordshire Historical Record Society. Vol. 8. pp. 3–82.
Hughes, M. W., ed. (1940). A Calendar of the Feet of Fines for the County of Buckingham: 7 Richard I to 44 Henry III [1195–1259]. Records Branch of the Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society. Vol. 4.
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Rye, Walter, ed. (1891). Pedes Finium: or fines, relating to the county of Cambridge, levied in the King's court from the seventh year of Richard I to the end of the reign of Richard III. Cambridge Antiquarian Society (octavo ser.). Vol. 26.
Palmer, W. M., ed. (1898). Feet of Fines for Cambridgeshire, Henry VII to Elizabeth: Divers Counties fines (containing refs. to Cambridgeshire), Richard I to Richard III: De Banco rolls, Edward IV & Henry VII. Norwich.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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Churchill, Irene J.; Griffin, Ralph; Hardman, F. W.; Jessup, Frank W., eds. (1956). Calendar of Kent Feet of Fines to the end of Henry III's reign. Kent Archaeological Society Records Branch. Vol. 15.
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Walker, Margaret S., ed. (1954). Feet of Fines for the County of Lincoln for the reign of King John, 1199–1212: now first printed from the original in the custody of the Right Hon. the Master of the Rolls. Pipe Roll Society. Vol. 67.
Dodwell, Barbara, ed. (1952). Feet of Fines for the County of Norfolk for the tenth year of the reign of King Richard the First, 1198–1199, and for the first four years of the reign of King John, 1199–1202. Pipe Roll Society. Vol. 65.
Dodwell, Barbara, ed. (1958). Feet of Fines for the county of Norfolk for the reign of King John, 1201–1215, for the county of Suffolk for the reign of King John 1199–1214. Pipe Roll Society. Vol. 70.
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Wrottesley, Hon. George, ed. (1890). "The final concords, or feet of fines, Staffordshire, A.D. 1327 to A.D. 1547". Collections for a History of Staffordshire. Vol. 11. William Salt Archaeological Society. pp. 127–292.
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Yates, Margaret (2013). "Married women and their landholdings: the evidence from feet of fines, 1310–1509". Continuity and Change. 28 (2): 163–85. doi:10.1017/S0268416013000234. S2CID154457401.
