This was interesting, but it was much less of a "gotcha" than I expected from the title. I expected the twist to be "no, there isn't a law about the crown owning swans", not "actually the law is...
This was interesting, but it was much less of a "gotcha" than I expected from the title. I expected the twist to be "no, there isn't a law about the crown owning swans", not "actually the law is real, it's just a bit more complicated, and the remnants of two medieval guilds also have the right to own marked swans."
I found another blog post written by a law professor that has a lot more primary sources regarding the whole swan thing, and related royal privileges.
This was interesting, but it was much less of a "gotcha" than I expected from the title. I expected the twist to be "no, there isn't a law about the crown owning swans", not "actually the law is real, it's just a bit more complicated, and the remnants of two medieval guilds also have the right to own marked swans."
I found another blog post written by a law professor that has a lot more primary sources regarding the whole swan thing, and related royal privileges.
I've always wanted to find and eat a swan on the Thames just to spite the king.