This article reconstructs the size and organisation of the rural market in hired labour in fourteenth-century England, providing a comparative reference point for arrangements elsewhere in medieval Europe. Quantitative assessment of 1,445 manorial court sessions from six manors casts new light on the English labour market, which was larger and less regulated than previously assumed and the government's wide-ranging labour legislation in the wake of the Black Death was novel in its scale and provisions. Contrary to received wisdom, manorial authorities made few efforts to regulate labour. The older view had placed an over-reliance on the early work of W.O. Ault and had ignored the significance of nil returns. The reasons for the lack of regulation, and its implications for our understanding of the complex interaction between pandemics, labour markets, and legal responses are explored. Finally, the study illustrates how legal responses to pandemics can have inadvertent yet profound consequences.

本文重建了十四世纪英国农村雇佣劳动力市场的规模和组织，为中世纪欧洲其他地方的安排提供了比较参考点。对六个庄园的 1,445 场庄园法庭庭审进行的定量评估为英国劳动力市场带来了新的视角，英国劳动力市场比之前想象的规模更大、监管也更少，而且黑死病之后政府制定的范围广泛的劳动立法在规模和条款上都是新颖的。与人们普遍认为的相反，庄园当局在监管劳工方面几乎没有做出什么努力。旧的观点过度依赖 WO Ault 的早期工作，而忽视了零回报的重要性。探讨了缺乏监管的原因，及其对我们理解流行病、劳动力市场和法律应对措施之间复杂相互作用的影响。最后，该研究说明了对流行病的法律反应如何可能产生无意但深远的后果。