Definition
An archaic unit of liquid measure used in early English law, equal to six sextarii. The term appears in medieval legal texts in the context of regulated weights and measures, particularly in relation to rights of common and the seasonal use of common lands.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encounter lagen primarily when working through medieval or early modern English sources dealing with weights and measures, common rights, or manorial customs. The term has essentially no modern legal application and functions almost entirely as a historical artifact. Its principal research value is contextual: understanding lagen helps calibrate the scale of quantities referenced in pleadings, grants, or estate records involving the distribution of goods or produce on common lands.
The Rapalje & Lawrence entry cross-references COMMON at sections 7 and 18, which is the more productive research thread. When lagen appears in a document, the researcher's attention should typically pivot to the surrounding context — what right of common is being described, what was being measured, and under what statutory or customary regime — rather than to the unit of measure itself.
Note the Statute of 24 Geo. II c. 23 reference in Rapalje & Lawrence. This statute fixed dates for the opening of common lands (August 12 is given), and lagen appears in connection with that regulatory framework. Researchers working on enclosure disputes, common rights litigation, or manorial records from the eighteenth century may encounter this statutory context. The Fleta citation (book 1, chapter 8) locates the term in thirteenth-century juristic writing, signaling that its roots are considerably older than the Georgian statute.
Historical Dictionary Support
Rapalje & Lawrence is the sole historical dictionary source for this entry. Their treatment is brief: a unit of six sextarii, sourced to Fleta, with a cross-reference to statutory dating under 24 Geo. II and to their own entry on COMMON. No definition of the sextarius itself is given, which creates a gap for researchers trying to reconstruct the actual volumetric quantity. The sextarius was itself a Roman unit of variable local application in medieval England, meaning precise reconstruction of what a lagen represented in practice may require consultation of specialized metrology sources beyond the standard legal dictionaries.
No equivalent entry appears in Black's Law Dictionary or Bouvier's Law Dictionary in their standard editions, which underscores how narrow the term's footprint is even within historical legal lexicography. Rapalje & Lawrence preserve it primarily as a measure relevant to common law contexts, not as a term of active pleading or substantive doctrine.
Jurisdictional Note
Lagen is specific to English legal history and has no recognized application in American, Scottish, or other common law jurisdictions. Researchers working in colonial American records are unlikely to encounter it except in direct quotation of English sources.