Feet of Fines

The History

Feet of fines were used from the 12th to the 17th century.

Originally they represented a court action brought about to settle a dispute but they quickly became popular as a way of recording land transactions that were put before a court and agreed by both sides.

Each party was given a copy of the agreement and the transaction was recorded in court records which meant that it was not liable for dispute on either side.

This has proved useful as many of the court records survive and leave us with names of people and land transactions small and large which took place hundreds of year ago in an age of few records.

What records can you find?

The national archives records many of the feet of fines

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Various groups have produced lists of feet of fines which are usually county related.

Medieval Genealogy has pulled together a list of those available.