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Simple English definitions for legal terms
Domesday Book
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A quick definition of Domesday Book:
DOMESDAY BOOK: Domesday Book is a big book that was made a long time ago in England. It was ordered by a king named William the Conqueror to count all the land, buildings, people, and animals in England. It was finished in 1086 and is also called Doomsday Book. It was mainly used to help the king collect taxes, but it also tells us some things about how people lived a long time ago.
A more thorough explanation:
Definition: Domesday Book (also spelled Doomsday Book) was a census or survey ordered by William the Conqueror in 1086 to record England's landholdings, buildings, people, and livestock. It was also known by several other names such as Liber de Wintonia, Rotulus Wintoniae, Scriptura Thesauri Regis, Liber Regis, Liber Judiciarius, Censualis Angliae, Angliae Notitia et Lustratio, Rotulus Regis, Liber de Thesauro, and Exchequer Domesday. Its main purpose was to collect information for taxation purposes.
Example: The Domesday Book recorded the number of people living in each village, the amount of land they owned, and the number of animals they had. For example, it recorded that in the village of Bampton, there were 28 households, 2 mills, and 2 fisheries, and that the lord of the manor owned 2 ploughs and 12 acres of meadow.
Explanation: This example illustrates how the Domesday Book recorded detailed information about each village, including the number of households, mills, and fisheries, as well as the amount of land and livestock owned by the lord of the manor. This information was used to determine how much tax each village should pay.