In the early modern system of impressment, able-bodied common men of fighting age entered armies and navies by conscription. This form of service was an obligation of English subjects who did not pay levies, and it was based on royal prerogative, but many people conceived of pressed service as contractual, nevertheless. Men of both middling and lower status loathed compulsory military service – as becomes clear from their testimony in a 1641 parliamentary investigation. The tension between the honor that lay in giving service to the king and kingdom, and the dishonor that lay in being pressed, allowed for an articulation of an edge at which coercion might invalidate consent, depending once again on the status of each man whose service was in question.

Introduces complexity of western ranching through the fictional Dutton Yellowstone Ranch, exploring the historical evolution of law and policy of western agricultural operations.

This chapter presents themes that appear in earlier chapters and makes the case for legal reform to create an agricultural framework that represents the “real” west, rather than John Dutton’s west.