RULES FOR HOLDING CUSTOMARY COURTS, COURTS BARON AND COURTS LEET, FORMS OF COURT ROLLS, DEPUTATIONS, AND COPY HOLD ASSURANCES, AND EXTRACTS FROM THE RELATIVE ACTS OF PARLIAMENT. BY JOHN SCRIVEN, SERJEANT AT LAW. THE FOURTH EDITION, EMBRACING ALL THE AUTHORITIES TO THE PRESENT PERIOD, BY HENRY STALMAN, ESQ. OF THE INNER temple, BARRISTER AT LAW. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: HENRY BUTTERWORTH, 7, FLEET STREET, Law Bookseller and Publisher. HODGES AND SMITH, GRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN. PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. THE death of the Author of the present treatise was a loss to the Profession, especially that portion of it whose more immediate duty it is to be conversant with the law of copyhold property, since he enjoyed the reputation of being the first copyhold authority of his day, and, as the Editor believes, justly so, judging from the numerous cases having reference to copyhold property submitted to him for his opinion, and the notes of many of which have come into the Editor's hands. The third edition of this work was published in 1834, and had been for some time out of print. Several statutes having been passed and cases decided, having reference to the subjects of the treatise, the Author, in Hilary Term, 1842, published a supplement to the treatise, embracing all the authorities on the subjects of it, and the relative acts of parliament, since the publication of the third edition, with additional precedents: this supplement the Editor has incorporated with the present edition, together with some few additional statutes and cases. Inasmuch as the various alterations which the law of copyholds has undergone are but of recent occurrence, the Editor has thought it best not to withdraw any considerable portions of the treatise from the present edition. It may be proper to make a few observations respecting the commutation and enfranchisement acts. The Editor has not thought it requisite to give the forms of procedure framed by the copyhold commissioners under those acts; first, because they are readily obtainable at the office of the commissioners; secondly, because he observes from the reports of the commissioners. that they have had to deal with one solitary case only under the commutation clauses of the general act, and to which the forms of procedure chiefly relate; and thirdly, because he understands it to be in the contemplation of the commissioners to obtain another act, the effect of which will be to render some alterations in the present forms of procedure necessary. The Editor has however thought it might be useful to introduce, at the end of the copyhold commutation and enfranchisement acts, two papers which have been put forth by the copyhold commissioners, the one intituled the "Tables of terms on which enfranchisements may be made, with suggestions for general rules," with some preliminary observations; and the other, "Terms for enfranchisements." So far as present experience has gone, the commutation clauses of the act have proved all but a dead letter. What copyhold tenants seem to require is, not commutation which perpetuates, but enfranchisement which extinguishes the tenure. With reference to some of the precedents of Court Rolls contained in the appendix, the reader will bear in mind the enactments of 4 & 5 Vict. c. 35, as to admittances being either in or out of the manor, and without a court,-as to an entry on the Court Rolls being equivalent to a presentment, and as to a presentment not being essential to the validity. of admission. The Editor cannot expect that the present edition will be entirely free from error: but when the difficulty of rendering a work of this nature quite perfect is taken into consideration, he confidently hopes that the profession will extend to him its accustomed indulgence in respect of any such errors or omissions as this edition of the treatise may be chargeable with. 7, STONE BUIDINGS, LINCOLN'S INN, July, 1846. CONTENTS A Manor may absolutely determine, or become Parcel of another By Custom waste Lands may be granted by Copy, with the Assent of the Homage, being an Exception to the Rule that Copyholds Customs of Manors must be immemorial, reasonable, and certain How the existence of a Custom is to be tried Of what Customs the Law takes Notice When a Custom is to be construed favourably, and when strictly. To what Descents a Custom will attach To what Limitations and Estates a customary Descent attaches Land imperceptibly added to the Demesnes of a Manor by Alluvion Effect of a Disposition of the Manor as to Copyholds subsequently |