contradistinction, as it were, to the Norman customs, viz., that the youngest son, and not the eldest, succeeds to the burgage tenement on the death of his father.

There are other special customs in different burgage tenures; as that in some the wife shall be endowed of all her husband's tenements, and not of the third part only, as at the common law; and that in others a man might, as in the Saxon times, dispose of his lands and tenements by will, which in general was not permitted after the Conquest till the reign of Henry VIII., but did not receive its full development until after the Restoration of Charles II.

Gavelkind tenure (of which notice has already been taken under the head "Customs ")* affords another proof that these socage tenures were remnants of Saxon liberties. A portion of the county of Kent is still subject to this tenure, as the Kentish men, by their submission to the Conqueror, stipulated for the retention of their Saxon customs. The distinguishing properties of this tenure are various; some of the principal are these:-1. The tenant is of age sufficient to aliene his estate by feoffment at fifteen.- -2. The estate does not escheat in case of an attainder and execution for felony- -3. In most places the tenant had a power of devising lands by will, before the statute for that purpose was passed.- 4. The lands descend, not to the eldest, youngest, or any one son only, but to all the sons together, which was anciently the usual course of descent all over England, though in particular places particular customs prevailed.

Explain the Origin and Nature of Manors, and how Copyholds arose out of Manors.

A MANOR, manerium-so called because it was the usual residence of the owner seems to have been a district of ground held by a lord or great personage, who kept so much of the lands in his own hands as was necessary for the use of his family, which lands were called terræ dominicales, or demesne lands, being occupied by the lord, or dominus manerii, and his servants. The other, or tenemental lands, were distributed among the tenants, and from

* See page 40.

the different modes of tenure were distinguished by two different names. First, bock-land, or charter-land, which was held by deed under certain rents and free-services, and in effect differed nothing from free-socage lands. From these have arisen most of the freehold tenants who hold of particular manors, and owe suit and service to the lord. The other was called folk-land, which was not held by any assurance in writing, but distributed among the common folk or people at the pleasure of the lord, and resumed at his discretion; being, indeed, land held in villenage. The residue of the manor, being uncultivated, was termed the lord's waste, and served for public roads, and for common of pasture to the lord and his tenants.

These villenages or folk-lands were tenures neither strictly feudal, Norman, nor Saxon, but mixed and compounded of them all. The tenants or villeins, belonging principally to lords of manors, were either villeins regardant; that is, annexed to the manor or the land; or else, they were in gross, or at large; that is, annexed to the person of the lord, and transferable by deed from one owner to another. They could not leave their lord without his permission; and, if they ran away, or were purloined from him, might be claimed and recovered by action, like beasts or other chattels. They held, indeed, small portions of land by way of sustaining themselves and families; but it was at the mere will of the lord, who might dispossess them whenever he pleased; and it was held upon the performance of vile services, such as to carry out dung, to hedge and ditch the lord's demesnes, and any other mean office; and their services were not only base, but uncertain both as to their time and quantity. A villein could acquire no property either in lands or goods; but, if he purchased either, the lord might enter upon them, oust the occupier, and seise them to his own use.

Villeins might have been enfranchised by manumission, and in process of time gained considerable influence over their lords, and strengthened the tenure of their estates to that degree, that they came to have in them an interest in many places as good, in others better, than their lords; for the good-nature and benevolence of many lords of manors having, time out of mind, permitted their villeins and their children to

enjoy their possessions without interruption in a regular course of descent, the common law, of which custom is the life, now gave them title to prescribe against their lords; and, on performance of the same services, to hold their lands, in spite of any determination of the lord's will. For, though in general they are still said to hold their estates at the will of the lord, yet it is such a will as is agreeable to the custom of the manor; which custom is preserved and evidenced by the rolls of the several courts-baron in which they are entered, or kept on foot by the constant immemorial usage of the several manors in which the lands lie. As such tenants had nothing to show for their estates but these customs and admissions in pursuance of them entered on those rolls, or the copies of such entries witnessed by the steward, they now began to be called tenants by copy of court roll, and their tenure itself a copyhold.

Thus copyhold tenures, as Sir Edward Coke observes, although very meanly descended, yet come of an ancient house; for it appears that copyholders are in truth no others but villeins, who, by a long series of immemorial encroachments on, or by permission of the lord, have at last established a customary right to those estates, which before were held absolutely at the lord's will. This affords a very substantial reason for the great variety of customs that prevail in different manors, with regard both to the descent of the estates and the privileges belonging to the tenants. And these encroachments grew to be so universal, that when tenure in villenage was virtually abolished, (though copyholds were reserved) by the statute of Charles II. there was hardly a pure villein left in the nation.*

To support a copyhold tenure, it is requisite that the lands be parcel of and within the manor, and that they have been immemorially demised or demisable by copy of court-roll.

No freehold can now be converted into copyhold, the essence of that tenure being immemorial custom; but a copyhold may be converted into freehold either by the lord conveying to the

* For further information, consult Watkins or Scriven on "Copyholds;" also Hallam's "Middle Ages."

copyholder the freehold of the estate, or by his releasing to him the seignorial rights. Such transmutation is called enfranchisement.

The rights of lords of manors to fines and heriots, rents, reliefs, and customary services were productive of considerable inconvenience to copyhold tenants, but stat. 4 & 5 Vict., c. 35, amended by subsequent Acts, facilitates the commutation of these rights and interests; and by 15 & 16 Vict., c. 51,* the enfranchisement of copyhold lands is made compulsory at the instance either of lord or tenant; but such enfranchisement does not affect the estates or rights of either party in any mines or minerals within or under the lands so enfranchised. It may be made by a simple conveyance of the fee-simple from the lord to his tenant.

There is another species of tenure-ancient demesne, which exists in certain manors. It is a species of copyhold, differing, however, from common copyholds in certain privileges, yet must be conveyed by surrender, according to the custom of the manor.

Besides these lay tenures, there is a spiritual tenure that still exists, called frankalmoign, or free alms; and by that tenure almost all the ancient monasteries and religious houses held their lands, and the parochial clergy and many ecclesiastical and eleemosynary foundations hold them at this day by the like tenure.t

* See also 21 & 22 Vict., c. 94; and 31 & 32 Vict., c. 89.

†The Law student who is desirous of obtaining a further knowledge of Ancient English Tenures, how the restrictions that fettered estates were gradually loosened, and the expedients that were invented to strip them of their privileges, will find full information in "Blackstone," vol. ii., cc. 6 & 7.

ESTATES OF INHERITANCE.

Having examined the Feudal System, with some of its peculiar incidents of tenure, let us next consider the nature and properties of estates, and such interest as the tenant has in them. First, with regard to the quantity of interest which the tenant has in the land or tenement; secondly, with regard to the time at which the quantity of that interest is to be enjoyed; and thirdly, with regard to the number and connection of the tenants or possessors.

Explain the Nature and Properties of Estates.

The estate, which a man has in lands, tenements, and hereditaments, signifies the interest which he has therein, and the power he has over such tenements. It is called in Latin status, indicating the position or circumstances in which the owner stands with regard to his property. An actual permanent interest is implied in the term; a mere possibility is not sufficient.

The quantity of interest which the tenant has in the tenement is measured by its duration and extent; and this occasions the primary division of estates, into such as are freehold, and such as are less than freehold.

An estate of freehold, liberum tenementum, or frank-tenement, is defined by Britton to be the possession of the soil by a freeman; but a freehold estate may consist either in land or in some tenement other than land. Estates of freehold are either estates of inheritance, or estates not of inheritance. The former are again divided into inheritances absolute, or fee-simple; and inheritances limited, one species of which is called fee-tail.

An estate in fee-simple (feudum simplex) or freehold is the greatest estate or interest a man can possess in landed property; for a tenant in fee-simple is he that hath lands, tenements, or hereditaments, to hold to him and his heirs for ever; generally,