Legal Definitions - yardland

A yardland was a historical unit used to measure land, primarily in medieval England. Unlike modern standardized measurements, the exact size of a yardland could vary significantly from one region or manor to another. However, it was commonly understood to represent a parcel of land sufficient to support a peasant family, often approximating around 20 to 30 acres, though it could be more or less depending on local custom and soil quality.

• Example 1: Medieval Manorial Records
  Imagine a rent roll from a 14th-century English manor. It might list a tenant farmer, "William the Miller," as holding "one yardland" from the lord of the manor, for which he owed specific services and payments. This illustrates how "yardland" was a recognized, albeit variable, unit for assigning and recording land tenure within a feudal system, defining a tenant's primary holding.

• Example 2: Historical Property Transfer
  In a 16th-century will, a landowner might bequeath "my eldest son, John, the two yardlands adjacent to the old oak tree, and to my younger son, Thomas, the yardland bordering the common pasture." Here, "yardland" serves as a customary, practical measure for dividing and transferring property, even if the precise acreage of each parcel was not explicitly stated in the document.

• Example 3: Agricultural Capacity
  A historical agricultural treatise from the 17th century might discuss the optimal size for a self-sufficient farm, stating that "a family of six could comfortably subsist and produce surplus on a well-managed yardland of fertile soil." This demonstrates that the term conveyed not just a physical area, but also an understanding of its productive capacity and its ability to sustain a household, a capacity that could vary with the land's quality.