Legal Definitions - de superoneratione pasturae

De superoneratione pasturae was a historical legal writ, or formal order, used in medieval English law. It addressed situations where an individual had overstocked a shared pasture, placing too many animals on land designated for common grazing, thereby exceeding their rightful share and harming the pasture for others.

This writ was specifically issued when a dispute over excessive grazing followed a particular procedural path: an initial complaint was made in a local county court, the same person was later formally accused again in that same court for the same offense, and subsequently, the case was removed to a superior court, typically located at Westminster, for a definitive resolution.

• Example 1: A Village Common

  Imagine a medieval English village where farmers shared a large common pasture. According to local custom, each household was permitted to graze a maximum of 20 sheep. Farmer Giles, however, consistently brought 40 sheep to the common, causing the grass to be depleted more quickly and leaving less for his neighbors' animals. Initially, the other villagers complained to the local county court, and Farmer Giles was warned. When he continued to overgraze, the villagers formally brought the same charge against him again in the county court. Due to his repeated defiance and the ongoing harm to the community's shared resource, the case was deemed significant enough to be removed to a superior court at Westminster, at which point a de superoneratione pasturae writ would have been the mechanism for this transfer and subsequent judgment.

  This example illustrates how the writ addressed a person exceeding their allocated grazing rights on common land, involving an initial local complaint, a repeated formal accusation, and the escalation to a higher court.

• Example 2: Manorial Grazing Rights

  Consider two neighboring manors, each with specific rights to graze their livestock on a shared meadow that lay between their estates. Lord Thomas, from one manor, began bringing significantly more cattle to the meadow than his agreed-upon share, leading to the degradation of the pasture and insufficient forage for Lord Arthur's animals from the other manor. Lord Arthur first lodged a complaint against Lord Thomas in the local county court. Despite a ruling or warning, Lord Thomas persisted in overstocking the meadow. Lord Arthur then formally "impleaded" (accused) Lord Thomas again in the same county court. Given the dispute between two lords and the failure of local resolution, the case was subsequently removed to a superior court at Westminster, facilitated by a de superoneratione pasturae writ, to ensure a fair and authoritative judgment.

  This scenario demonstrates the writ's application in resolving disputes over shared grazing rights between significant landowners, where local judicial efforts proved insufficient, necessitating intervention from a higher court.