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Abstract

perception of family inheritance as the glue that held the peasant society together. For him, the land market did not significantly disturb the stability of peasant society; yet, in both these collections it is viewed as a destabilizing element. Even though it is perceived quite differently, the questions being asked about it are still those raised by Homans. The perspectives of other theorists, though not wholly ignored, still take a back seat and along with them attempt to consider different socioeconomic groups and village economy in relation to the land market. Moreover, research still tends to concentrate on single places; even when it does not, there is little attempt to compare how the land market operated under different agricultural, economic, and demographic conditions. Still, comparative study is the only way through which the local variations and normative practices of medieval English village society will be sorted out.