I do not have cites yet. I am sure that the British Dopers can provide several.
I have seen it on PBS documentaries. Enclaves where Great Britian seems to have a limited hold on how affairs are conducted. They are typically islands, or in more remote regions, such as rural Scotland. In these places, the laws don’t seem to protect people that much.
In one Island, most modern conveniences are not allowed. No automobile. Next to no electricity. A girl petitioned the feudal lord to allow movies to be shown, to alleviate the boredom that the youth suffer. It was denied.
Others do not allow private enterprise, all work is to benefit the “owner” of the lands, even if villiages reside within these lands. OF course, most of the UK is not like this, but there still seems to be Feudal lands where people are, as long as they choose to live there, serfs.
I have tried to think of U.S. equivilants, or just similarities. All I can come up with are: (1) Mining towns, where the mining companies owned all the retail outlets, and houses. The U.S. government cracked down on this in the 50’s or 60’s. (2) Very large ranches. Such as the King Ranch in south Texas. (3) Sharecropping. Although the farmers essentially “rent” the land with a cut of the crop.
None of these has the recognition of a feudal estate.
What is up with these weird enclaves? Why and how do they have fewer rights than your standard citizen of HM’s government?
Perhaps you’re thinking of some of the Channel islands. They are not officially part of the United Kingdom, but have the same queen and depend on the U.K. for diplomatic and military matters. The larger islands (like Guernsey and Jersey) have representative governments, but two islands are more-or-less feudal.
Sark has a hereditary Seigneur who is pretty much in charge. Justice is dispensed by the Seneschal, who is appointed by the Seigneur and who acts as judge in all civil and criminal cases. There is a legislature of sorts (the Chief Pleas) but only 12 of 40 seats are popularly elected. Motor vehicles are not allowed on Sark, but I don’t know about movies.
The island of Herm belongs to the crown, but it is currently rented under a hundred-year lease. I can’t find many details now, but I recall reading that the family that rents it pretty much runs it the way they want. Motor vehicles are not allowed on Herm, and I don’t know about movies.
I doubt any of the cases Road Rash refers to has ‘the recognition of a feudal estate’, as the Scottish examples are all merely isolated communities owned by a single landlord who has imposed particularly strict conditions on his/her tenants. The most famous cases used to be Eigg and Knoydart, although both were bought out by the residents in 1997 and 1999 respectively.
The problem is that the inhabitants feel that they did not choose their birthplace and they reasonably argue that, although there is nothing to stop them moving elsewhere, it is unfair to expect them to do so just because they dislike the methods of their particular landlord. The Scottish Parliament is currently considering a bill which would give such residents special rights to buy estates should the owner wish to sell. This was specifically inspired by the Eigg and Knoydart cases.
There would also be Scottish estates, some of them on islands, where one person - the Laird - owns all the land, buildings, roads, everything. Everyone else who lives there is a tenant of his. He can, if he chooses, prevent films being shown by not making anywhere available for the purpose. He can prevent cars by not giving permission for them to be driven on the roads, which he owns (and maintains). And so forth.
The other residents have all the rights of British subjects. They can own a car and drive it on the public roads. They can go and see a film anywhere where one is shown. And so forth. And of course they can leave the estate, temporarily or permanently, any time they like.
The government can, if they need, intervene and compulsorily acquire land in order to operate, say, a school or (on an island) a ferry terminal and ferry service. In fact they rarely need to so so since the Laird will usually make land or buildings available for this purpose.
Probably the closest US analogy would be the very large ranch.