ment is to be prepared, and forms embodying most of the terms likely to require attention will be found in precedents Nos. 271 and 227.

30. Two parts of the agreement should be written on plain paper, and signed by the parties, each taking one. If thought advisable, the agreement can, if of the class requiring a 20s. stamp, be stamped within twenty-one days, without payment of any penalty; (see Stamp Act, 55 G. 3); or afterwards on payment of penalty of 51., and the usual practice is to omit the stamp, except where difficulties are expected from the other party.

31. Should the purchaser have made his own contract, and entered into an agreement made by the vendor's solicitor, the first step will be to obtain the duplicate agreement, or should none be delivered, a copy of the agreement must be procured from the vendor's solicitor.

32. The usual practice with regard to the expense of the purchase agreement is for each party to pay half, but of course this is open to alteration in making the contract.

33. Should the purchase have been made at an auction, the purchaser will have the auctioneer's agreement for delivery to his solicitor, and which can be stamped in the same way as a common agree

ment.

34. It would be very advantageous that a solicitor on receiving the purchase contract from his client, should, where the purchase is of any considerable amount, shortly explain to his client the effect of the contract on his will and disposition of his property.

35. He should particularly draw his attention to the circumstances, that without republication of his will, the newly purchased estate will not pass; that the heir will, on acceptance of the title, be entitled to enforce the contract at the expence of the personal estate; that the taking a conveyance to uses to bar dower will require a republication of the will,

though this only applies to a freehold part; provision should be made for giving the value of the estate to the party to whom he intended to give the estate, in the event of the contract being rescinded; even buying a different interest in the property, where before he had a partial interest, would also render a republication necessary, and the gift of such previous interest should be extended by sufficient words. (See on this subject Sugden's Letters, p. 19 & 20; as to devise before surrender see Lady Foljamb's case, 1 Ch. Ca. 39.) Attention must however be given to the alterations which the bill now before Parliament will effect, should it become a law.

36. The purchaser's solicitor will, when he has perused the purchase agreement, apply to the vendor's solicitor for the abstract of title.

37. The question then arises as to the abstract he is entitled to require, and whether he is entitled, in the absence of express stipulation either way, to an abstract certified by the steward; or bound to accept an abstract of the documents which the vendor's solicitor holds, or with the contents of which he is acquainted, and to compare the same with the court rolls himself, in order to ascertain its correctness; and if the latter should be deemed the practice, who is bound to pay the expence attendant on such comparison.

38. In support of the former position, it appears by Sugden's Vendors and Purchasers, ch. 9, that the vendor must at his own expence furnish the purchaser with an abstract of his (the vendor's) muniments, and deduce a clear title," and that the abstract ought to mention every incumbrance whatever affecting the estate." Now the title of the vendor is on the court rolls, and without having an abstract of all such parts of the rolls as apply to the vendor's estate, it is very doubtful whether a certain and correct abstract can be obtained of all the different steps of the title and of all the incumbrances; particularly as a previous conditional surrender or mortgage will not be

referred to in a subsequent admission, a copy of which may be held by the vendor, and an abstract of whose documents may give an apparently clear, though in fact an incorrect, title; whilst an abstract of the court rolls would give an incumbered, though actual title. To deduce a "clear title," and mention every incumbrance," it appears that an abstract of the court rolls would be required. Independently of Mr. Sugden's authority, it seems conformable to reason that the abstract furnished by a person having in his possession all the transfers and charges on the estate, and not interested in misleading either party, should be far better than the abstract of partial documents prepared by the solicitor, interested in the concealment of objections to the title; and as it will appear clearly that an examination of the court rolls is requisite, it would, on the ground of economy alone, be preferable that the steward's abstract should be prepared, than that the vendor's solicitor should prepare a probably imperfect abstract, and that the subsequent additional expence of the examination with the court rolls should be occasioned.

39. The practice however inclines to this. The vendor prepares the best abstract he can from the documents in his possession, or the knowledge which he possesses of the contents of the documents of title, and either gets the steward to certify the abstract, or the purchaser has to examine the abstract with the court rolls; the steward's charges, and other expences in such examination usual in freehold cases being payable by the vendor.

40. A difficulty sometimes occurs by the steward refusing to allow a comparison of the abstract, contending for the practice first alluded to; but in such case, as it seems clear that the vendor is bound in the absence of stipulation to the contrary, to furnish the purchaser with the production; the purchaser's solicitor should give him notice accordingly. (See form post, 273.).

41. The mode of obtaining inspection is by man

damus, as to which, and generally as to right to inspection, see Tidd's Practice, 499, 1052; Stracey's Case, Latch. 182; Rex v. Lucas, 10 East, 235; Rex v. Town, 4 Maule & S. 162; Crew v. Saunders, 2 Str. 1005; and Bateman v. Phillips, 4 Taunt. 162; and see general rule in Moore & Scott's Repts. 430.

42. A difficulty also frequently arises respecting the amount of the steward's fees, on allowing an inspection of the rolls, either generally, or with a view to the comparison of the abstract; respecting which, some observations will be made in 391, 392, 393, 431, &c.

43. The purchaser's solicitor should get the undertaking of the vendor's solicitor to pay the charges of the steward, in order to guard against difficulty on settlement of the purchase. As to propriety of the amount, see form, No. 274.

44. Having obtained the abstract, and made an appointment for examination with the writings, the next step will be

The Examination of the Abstract.

45. Where a steward's abstract is delivered, and the date of the steward's certificate is very recent, there will, unless the purchase is to a considerable amount, be very little necessity for examining the abstract with the court rolls, further back than such certificate; though of course it would be of advantage to do so; but it will be necessary to examine the abstract with the documents in possession of the vendor's solicitor, in order to ascertain that there are no covenants, agreements, or other documents, affecting the equitable title, throwing a doubt upon the absolute property in the vendor, and the freedom from annual payments, rights of way, &c.

46. Where the abstract is prepared by the vendor's solicitor, the purchaser's solicitor should not only carefully examine it with the writings held by the vendor's solicitor, but also with the court solls; and as the steward will seldom give much assistance

where he is deprived of the emolument arising from drawing the abstract, the inspection of the court rolls must also be carefully made; or the better plan is, where the steward will do so for a moderate fee, to have him certify the abstract as being correct up to the certificate; though such certificate, where the vendor pays for comparison with the court rolls, would it is presumed have to be borne by the purchaser. This certificate would be of use on a future sale, with a view to save the expence of a fresh examination, by inserting a stipulation in such future contract, that a certified abstract should be deemed sufficient.

47. The importance of a careful examination of the abstract with the rolls, will be shewn by reference to a too common practice; where there are copyholds on several manors appearing to have been for many years held as one estate, and the vendor's solicitor has some of the documents of each, what is wanting in one manor exists in another, and he is thereby enabled to draw partly from documents, and partly from guess, a set of abstracts which to a careless observer appear as if regularly drawn from documents; and if pressed as to the sources from which he gives the title, he refers to the court rolls, or professes that he was guided by former abstracts.

48. It frequently happens that the writings are held by a mortgagee, in which case the abstract will most probably have been obtained from the steward, although the vendor's solicitor may sometimes prepare it from any drafts or extracts which he may have, or from an old abstract, in which case it is necessary that particular attention should be paid to the examination.

49. When the writings are held by a mortgagee, Mr. Coventry states in his Conveyancing Evidence, that such possession is deemed the possession of the vendor, and that consequently the purchaser must bear the expense of examining the abstract; but it is submitted that such rule would be liable to this