The professions of the church, the army and the law were constantly recruited from the younger sons of landed families, preventing the gap between nobility and the rest. Aftermath The power of alienation was reintroduced by the judges in Taltarum's Case (Year Book, 12 Edward IV., 1472) by means of a fictitious suit or recovery which had originally been devised by the regular clergy for evading the statutes of Mortmain. This was abolished by the Fines and Recoveries Act 1833, which provided an alternative means of barring entails. See also Quia Emptores History of English land law References English laws Acts of the Parliament of England still in force 1280s in law 1285 in England 13th century in England Latin legal terminology Legal history of England Medieval English law