ABSTRACT
The English legal system developed from the feudal order imposed following the Norman Conquest. Thus the Domesday Book, completed in 1086, recorded the property holdings, values, rights and obligations of the King, his tenants-inchief, their sub-tenants and peasants, while a court roll contained similar information for each manorial estate. The information collected was invaluable in economic and political terms. Such records are necessary for the collection of taxes and to facilitate action deemed to be necessary by the governing body.
