8 Fighting Solves Everything

8 Fighting Solves Everything
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Many kinds of fights are auctions of one sort or another, and vice versa.
Note:ASTA COME LOTTA... LA SIMILITUDINE

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Legal representatives in England used to beat each other with these to resolve property disputes.
Note:USANZA INGLESE BATTERSI PER RISOLVERE LA DISPUTA

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trial by battle—
Note:IL NOME DELLA PRATICA

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their lawyers don’t fight to the death.
Note:OGGI IL RUOLO DELL AVVOCATO È DIFFERENTE

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For over a century,
Note:DURATA DEL PROCESSO COMBATTESNTE

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“champions,”
Note:I RAPPR

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The vanquished lost his cause and, if he were unlucky, his life.
Note:SORTE DEL XDENTE

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1179,
Note:FINO A

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one person challenged another’s claim to a piece of land by bringing a legal action called a “writ of right.”

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LA PROCEDURA

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A colorable claim was necessary
Note:LA RICHIESTA DOVEVA ESSERE ACCETTATA... NN ARBITRARIA

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there was no guarantee the crown would fulfill his request

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These “screens” helped prevent bogus property challenges
Note:FILTRO... IMPERFETTO

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pretend to divine the identity of a disputed parcel’s true owner through judicial combat.
Note:CHE FARE IN MANCANZA DI ULTERIORI INFO?… OVVIO

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God favored the rightful disputant’s

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If the court couldn’t establish

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there should be a battle”

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law permitted plaintiffs to hire champions,
Note:IN AFFITTO

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Eleventh- and twelfth-century arenas were makeshift; later ones were specially constructed for the purpose.
Note:L ARENA...PRIMA IMPRO... POI UN VERO SPETTACOLO

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killing his adversary or forcing him to cry “craven”—an act of submission.
Note:COME VINXE L ATTORE

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pushing a stalemate until nightfall.
Note:UN RISULTATO IN PIÙ X L IMPUTATO

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If he survived, he paid a £3 fine for perjury and “lost his law”:
Note:LO SCONFITTO

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these trial by battle fights were really just auctions
Note:TORNIAMO ALLA SIMILITUDINE

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“But that doesn’t make sense—because of the Coase theorem.”
Note:OBIEZIONE

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if the cost of trading is low, trade between people will move property rights
Note:PERCHÈ NN COMMERCIARE ANZICHÈ SCANNARSI?

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if the cost of trading is low.
Note:CONDIZ NN SODDISFATTA

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cost of trading land in Norman England was very high,
Note:CASO SPECIFICO

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“Why was it so hard to trade land
Note:DUBBIO

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Because of feudalism.
Note:IL FEUDALESIMO LEGAVA LA PROP A MOLTI ALTRI DOVERI

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in this system was both a tenant of some lord and a lord some tenant(s),
Note:SI POSSIEDE LA TERRA GRAZIE A UN GARANTE CGE CI PROTEGGE E A LUI SI DEBBONO SERVIZI DI OGNI SORTA

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what one person did with his land could have major repercussions
Note:INCONVENIENTE

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Land sales could take two forms: “substitution,
Note:DUE TRASFERIMENTI ALTERNATIVI ALLA VENDITA TIPICI DEL MEDIOEVO...VENDITA QUOTE O SUBAFFITTO

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and “subinfeudation,”

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like selling a condo
Note:LA SOST. COME VENDITA DI QUOTE

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a tenant who subinfeudated his land sold some (or all) of it to a buyer but remained a tenant
Note:INFILTRAZIONE

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sort of like subleasing an apartment.

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threatened the interests of two feudal associates of would-be land sellers: their heirs and their lords.
Note:TOCCATI MOLTI INTERESSI DALLA VENDITA

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if the buyer was less competent
Note:LA PERSONA DELL ACQ NN È INDIFFERENRE... QUESTO CREA INTOPPI... RICHIEDE UN BENEPLACITO

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escheat: lords’ right, under certain circumstances, to their dead or legally indisposed tenants’ land.
Note:IN PIÙ... PRELAZIONE

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A still bigger concern for lords was the possibility that a tenant might grant his land to a religious house,
Note:ALTRO PERICOLO

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The only services they were obligated to provide were spiritual
Note:PRIVILEGI

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to get their heirs’ and lords’ consent
Note:RICHIESTO AMPIO CONSENSO

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“Multiple consents required

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They made Anglo-Norman land rights sticky.

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it was important for judges to assign disputed property
Note:MOLTE DISPUTE

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solution to this problem was trial by battle.

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spending on champions
Note:L OFFERTA NELL ASTA

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higher bid bought him a better champion.

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champions developed reputations

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William of Copeland,
Note:CAMPIONISSIMO

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Robert of Clopton,

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higher prices.

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abbot of Glastonbury, for example, paid thirteenth-century champion Henry of Fernberg £20
Note:L ABATE

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In contrast to the medieval land market, the market for champions was fluid.
Note:MERCATI PARALLELI

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purchasing several champions, especially the better ones, shrank the other litigant’s choices,
Note:ALTRA STRATEGIA DEI DANAROSI

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Mary’s of York, Meaux hired seven champions “at great cost.”28 His goal: to “monopolise the market”
Note:SCOPO

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Eustace is a more productive farmer than Osbert; he can make more money from the land, so he values it more.
Note:ALLOCAZIONE EFFICIENTE

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Trial by battle’s violent auction identifies the disputant who values the contested property more
Note:CHI OFFRE DI PIÙ

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Medieval credit markets were far less developed than modern ones, and it’s unclear whether they made loans to legal contestants seeking champions.
Note:OFFRIRE A CREDITO?...UN ALTERNATIVA X TALENTUOSI SQUATTRINATI

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“Battle seems to have been barred between people of widely differing status.”

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CONDIZ NECESSARIA... SALVAGUARDIA DIRITTI INDIVIDUALI

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I’m having trouble seeing why the legal system would use violent auctions
Note:XCHÈ LA VIOLENZA?

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why not just auction

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To answer it, it’s useful to think about fraudulent lawsuits
Note:PROCESSI TAROCCHI

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people who live in fear of being extorted by bogus legal claims won’t invest in their property,
Note:UN PROB DEI PROCESSI INAFFIDABILI

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A central source of fraudulent lawsuits in an auction that allocates disputed property rights is the bids that litigants pay. Somebody gets those bids.
Note:BUSTARELLE... A CHI VANNO? QUANDO LA MAGISTRATURA È CORROTTA...

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In a regular auction, if the bid collectors are judges, they might ignore the absence of basic evidence
Note:IL RISCHIO

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violent auctions could reduce the number of bogus claims relative to a regular auction
Note:FALSI MINIMIZZATI

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an auction in which two contestants bid on a prize, both have to pay whatever they bid, and the winner, rather than always being the person who bids more, can sometimes be the person who bids less.
Note:IL TIPO DI ASTA DI CUI PARLIAMO.... BEN DIVERSA DA QUELLA INGLESE

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How much will the bid collector collect in this kind of auction? Less than he collects in the regular kind.
Note:IN CHE ASTA SI SPENDE MENO?

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contestant who values the prize less has no incentive to bid lower
Note:NELL INGLESE

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the contestant who values the prize less has an incentive to bid lower than his maximum.
Note:NELL ASTA DI GUERRA...SAPENDO CHE SI SPENDERÀ IN OGNI CASO

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wins the prize probabilistically.
Note:IN PIÙ IL PREZZO È A RISCHIO...QUINDI SARÀ INF

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uncertainty reduces the benefit of making higher bids,

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that’s the basic idea

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which meant fewer fraudulent lawsuits.

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If illegitimate land disputes had been rampant, hiring champions on retainer probably would’ve been too.
Note:EVIDENZA INDIRETTA SUPLLA SCARSA FRAUDOLENZA

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because the higher bidder doesn’t always win the auction, trial by battle also allocates the disputed property right to the wrong disputant sometimes.
Note:IMPERFEZIONE...TRADE OFF

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At this point, both parties knew the trial’s likely outcome.
Note:PERCHÈ NN TRANSARE DOPO LA SCELTA DEI CAMPIONI? O CON LA SCELTA GIÀ DELINEATA

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They could save time and expense

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in most cases, that’s exactly what they did.

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“Determination of the issue by battle actually fought out . . . was . . . a rare exception, in the writ of right.”
Note:LA BATTAGLIA EFFETTIVA ERA QUASI UN ECCEZ

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after their champions entered the arena
Note:IL MOMENTO

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It doesn’t explain why a violent auction was used instead of a nonviolent one.
Note:DUBBIO

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why not have disputants hire runners

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you’re greatly exaggerating the human cost of trial by battle.
Note:NON ESAGERIAMO

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Anglo-Norman legal system had rules that protected champions

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The law required combat with far less lethal weapons,

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Trial by battle’s “submission rule” limited combat-sustained damage further still.
Note:MI ARRENDO!!!

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Medieval Englishmen enjoyed watching champions fight
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