Vermont Lease Lands and Other Ancient Vermont Laws - by Paul Gillies

History never dies. It just waits in shadow until it leaps out into our lives. So with lease lands, those large parcels set aside by the proprietors of the towns for public purposes, including the school, the church, and others. The ownership of these lands remains with the town, but many people aren’t aware of that. They are discovering the special challenges of owning lease lands.

Early Vermont law is not homogenous and uniform, the way much of modern law has become. It was unique, because it was often invented without any precedent, tradition, or model to fit the needs of this new and independent state. The choices that the first legislatures and courts made remain a part of present day jurisprudence. We only need to scrape the surface of the statutes and precedents to see the debt the present owes the past. Ready?

Paul Gillies is a lawyer/historian from Berlin, Vermont, who has written and lectured on early Vermont law. He is the author of Uncommon Law, Ancient Roads, and Other Ruminations on Vermont Legal History, published by the Vermont Historical Society in 2013.

Note: Winter Season talks are at 2:00 pm.