conuent but what say you to the Rents of Assize What meane you by Assize Sur. Truly for my part I take it to signifie set in certainty for these kind of rents are as in the beginning neither risen nor falne but doe continue alwayes one and the same and only they and none else can be properly called rents of Assize Lord. I thinke you take it rightly and are all rents of one kind Sur. No there are properly three kinds as rent seruice Rent seck and Rent charge Lord. These termes are strange to me though I be Lord of many Mannors and no doubt I receiue rentes of euery of these kindes but how to distinguish them I can not tell And whether I haue bin abused by mine Officers or no I know not for they neuer told me of these many kindes of rentes and therfore let me intreat you for my satisfaction a little to explaine their seuerall natures Sur. These Seuerall rentes are paide vpon seuerall considerations and haue seuerall grounds and commencementes and are diuersly to be leuied and recouered if they bee denied That which is called Rent seruice is so called because it is knit to the tenure and is as it were a Seruice whereby a man holdeth his Landes or Tenements As where the Tenant holdeth his Lands by Fealty and certaine rent or by Homage fealty and certaine rent or by any other seruice and certaine rent the rent is called Rent seruice for as the Seruice followeth a Tenure so the Rent followeth the seruice And if this rent bee behind the Lord of Common right may enter and distrayne for it The Rent charge is so called because when a man graunteth any Land whether it bee in fee-simple â—ee tayle for life for yeares or at will and in his deede reserueth a rent with clause of distresse for non payment by vertue of this clause the Land is charged with payment of the rent by expresse wordes and by force of it the Lord may distraine for his rent behind Lord. This kind of rent is at this day I thinke most common for fewe will graunt Land but they will make such prouision that the Land shall stand charged with the rent Sur. It is true for at this day there can be no rent seruice raysed because it cannot bee without a tenure which can not be at this day created Lord. What is that you call Rent seek Sur. It is a bare rent reserued vpon a graunt wherein there is no mention made of charging the Land by distresse and it signifieth redditum siccum a dry rent for the recouery whereof the Land is not charged Lord. Few such rents are now adayes for a man had nâ—ede to make all the prouision he can to secure his rent and yet he may be driuen to try his vttermost meanes to recouer it But you haue satisfied me also touching these rents now let me intreate you to shew something of oâ—â—er things incident vnto a Mannor by which the Lord receiueth profit or prerogatiue Sur. Profits may rise by infinite meanes and wayes out of a Mannor to the Lord but all Mannors yeeld not profits or commodities alike neither in nature or value Lord. I thinke indéede all Mannors are not alike profitable to the Lord neither hath euery Mannor like meanes yet I desire to know for my experience sake what may grow out of a Mannor that I may the better looke into the natures qualities of such as are vnder my power and commâ—â—nd Sur. If you haue a Mannor or Mannors there is as I sayd before a Court Baron at the least incident thereunto and to some a Leeâ—e or Law-day which is called the view of franck pledge by which Courts do grow many and diuers perquisites and casualtyes as fines of land Amerceaments heriots rehefes wayues estrayes forfeitures escheates profits growing by pleas in Court and such like Lord. You may doe well to shew mée though briefly what euery of these former things doe properly import for to tell me the names and not the natures of the things is as if I should know there is a Sunne but whether he giue light and heate to be ignorant Therefore before you passe further in any discourse shew me how fines of Land doe arise vnto the Lord and what amerceaments are and the rest Sur. Fines of Land are of sundry kindes and yet properly and most especially they arise of copyhold or customary Lands and Tenements which are in diuers Mannors of diuers kinds for there are customary Lands which are called copyhold of inheritance and they are such as a man holdeth to him and his heires according to the custome of the Mannor at the will of the Lord. When such a Tenant dyeth and the heire commeth to be admitted if the custome of the Mannor beare a fine certaine he giueth but the accustomed fine If it be vncertayne and arbitrable he agreeth and compoundeth with the Lord or Surueyor or Steward for the fine Some hold Customary Land for liues as for one two or three liues whereof the fine is alwayes at the Lords will as is also the fine for yeeres There are also fines for licences of Surrenders of Customary Land and for alienation also of free-hold Land and these are called Fines which signifieth as much as a finall composition and when the fine which is the end of the contract is answered all but the yeerely rent during the terme agreed vpon is payd These and such like summes of money raysed aâ— a Courtâ—arâ—â— are parcell of the peâ—quisites of the Court as are all amerceaments which are summes of money imposed vpon the Tenants by the Steward Surueyor by oth and presentment of the homage for default of doing sute or for other misdemeanours punishable by the same Court infinite in number and quality Lord Whence taketh the word Amerceament name Sur. Of being in the Lords mercy to be punished more or lesse crumenally at the Lords pleasure and will It is no doubt a borrowed word as many other words vsed in our common lawes are for hee that is amerced is sayd to be in misericordia that is in the mercy of some body Lord. These wordes may be vnderstood by vse and by the manner of the vse of things but he that should seeke the etimon among the Latines of the substantine Amercâ—â—mentum and the adiectiue Amerciatus might seeke long be neuer the nâ—ere But I perceiue we must take it as our â—athers first framed it and left it I vnderstand what it meaneth in our common sence and that sufficeth Sur. Other words not a fewe in like sort to bee vnderstood we find in vse amongst vs which doubtles the Romans neuer knew and yet they that haue to do with the things wherein they are vsed vnderstand the meaning although their deriuations be strange as amoÌ„gst others it is questionable whence the name of a heriot may be deriued Lord. That would I be
King gaue Lands vnto his followers in such quantity as did exceed the proportion of a mans manurance and occupation as a thousand two thousand Acres more or lesse which quantity of Land being at that time as it were in a lump or Chaos without any distinction of parts or qualities of Land he to whom such Land was giuen to hold to him and his heires for euer enfeoffed some others in parts thereof as one in ten another in twenty and some in more some in lesse Acres and iâ—â—onsideration of such feoffements euery of these were to do the feoffer some kind of seruice as he and they agreed vpon reseruing such a part vnto himselfe as he might conueniently occupy in his owne hands and by this meanes the Land thus giuen by the King and thus proportioned out to others by the Donee became to be called a Mannor And he that was thus inuested in this Land by the King was in respect of such as he infeoffed called the Lord and such as were infeoffed were called Tenants Lord in respect of gouernement and commaund and Tenants in respect of their tenures and manner of holding vnder the Lord whom they were to obey Lord. But when or about what time was this erection of Mannors Sur. As I take it and as it seemeth in the time of the Normans for among the Saxons was no such name as the name Mannor yet the thing euen in substance was then for they had Demeisnes and seruices in substance but the demeisnes they called Inlands and the seruices Vtlands so that it differeth only in name but in Iurisdiction little or nothing at all Lord. Whereof is it called a Mannor Sur. There is some differeÌ„ce of opinioÌ„s wheÌ„ce the woâ—d Mannor should be deriued it is in Latin called Manerium yet a word not vsed among the Romans or ancient Latins therfore to find the etimon by it cannot be for the word is vsed among our Lawyers as many other made words are which haue bin termes raised by our Lawes are not elsewhere in vse and therefore the neerest way to find the signification of the word is by the quality of the thing so that some hold it should proceed of the Latine verbe Manerâ— which signifieth to abide or remayne in a place as the Lord and his Tenants did in this wherof the head house or the Lords seate was called Berrye which signifieth in the Saxon toong a dwelling place which continueth yet still in Hartfordshire and in diuers other places and is also taken sometimes pro castro which was also the seate of the Lord of some Mannorâ— Mannor houses were also and yet are called in some places Halls as in Essex and Northward Courts and Court-houses Westward as in Somerset Deuon c. as also Mannor places all which are places of the Lords owne abode and therefore it may not vnfitly be said to take name of abiding or dwelling Some thinke and not improperly that it taketh name of the French word Manemirer which signifieth to till and manure the ground And of the two I take this latter to be the most proper deriuation of the word Mannor for thereof are many chiefe houses of tillage called Predia Graunges It may also take name of Mainer to gouerne and guide because the Lord of the Mannor had the managing and direction of all his Tenants within the limits of his iurisdiction Of these deriuations qualem mauis accipe necessity tyes to neyther Lord. These significations of the word may stand all with sence and much materiall it is not whence the word ariseth but the likelyest is indeed that which most agreeth with the propertie of the thing But I haue within my Mannors sundry mesuages whence is the name deriued Sur. Of meisus or mesuager which is as much to say as familiam administrare to gouerne a houshold for euery of the Tenants had his family and of diuers of them and of the Lords family did a Mannor consist Lord. Then no doubt if a man haue a thousand Acres of Land more or lesse to him and his heires which lyeth in one intire péece not yet diuided may be diuided into parts as a portion for the Lord himselfe and some parcels to erect such mesuages for Tenants to do him seruice as he may make a Mannor where none was before Sur. No Sir for although a man haue a competent quantity of Land in his manurance and would conuert it to the end you speake of were it neuer so great and could establish many mesuages and could erect whatsoeuer seruices this would not become a Mannor because all these must haue long continuance which can not at this day be confirmed by any priuate man but by the King only but he may haue thereby a kind of seignory a Lordship or gouernement in grosse ouer his Tenants by contract or couenant but no Mannor No man at this day can create a seruice or a tenure or by any meanes rayse or erect a Mannor for there must be very Lord and very Tenant in fee-simple and that of auncient coÌ„mencement and continuance or else it can inure no Mannor For a man may haue demeisns to occupy and Tenants to do him seruices and that of continuance and yet no Mannor As if a man that had Land did giue part of this Land in former time to some others in tayle to do him seruices heere are demeisnes in the donor and seruices in the donees and a tenure yet because there be not very Tenants in fee simple remaketh no Mannor Lord. Whether are all Lands holden of a Mannor parcell of the same Mannor Sâ—r. No Lands may be holden of a Mannor by certaine seruices the seruice may be parcell of the Marnor and yet the Lands not Lord. But may not this Land be made parcell of the Mannor at this day Sâ—r. By no other meanes but by escheat for if the Land fall vnto the Lord by escheat then it comes parcell of the Mannor for then is the seruice extinguished and the Land commeth in place of it Lord. May not a man purchace Land that lyeth néere his Mannor and annexe the same and make it parcell of the Mannor though it held not of the Mannor before Sur. Forraine Land newly purchased though it lye within the precinct and bounds of the Mannor can not be annexed though the Tenant thereof be willing to do his seruices there for this is in nature of a new creation of a tenure which at this day the lawe will not admit only the King by his prerogatiue may Lord. What if it were tyed vnto the Lord of a Mannor for the payment of an annuity is not the annuity then parcell of the Mannor And if that Land be purchased by the Lord and thereby extinguish the annuity doth not that Land come in place of the annuity and so become parcell of the Mannor as the Land you spake of before which by the escheat
to vtter them Sur Things of themselues lawfull by the lawes of the Land where they be iudiciously and carefully handled as they are by the lawes intended and by the chiefe disposers meant namely the mariages of Wards and disposition of their lands in their minorities and the presentations of benefices in the gifts of priuate men Lord. For the first I haue yet no occasion to make proofe how or what they are but the second I haue had some power to bestow wherin I was not so remisse as that I presented such as were not fit for y e funâ—tion which I thinke is your meaning therefore let that passe awhile learne me what a Ward is and how he and his land is to be disposed by the lawe that I may learne it against the time I may haue vse Sur. The word Ward is as much as guard which signifieth tuition or defence and he that is in ward is vnder some mans gouernment and keeping and the word hath a passiue signification as it is vsed in our common speech and yet the same word is also vsed in the actiue sence as they that watch or attend for the defence of any are called the ward or guard of that person or thing they do protect But the wards whereof we are now to speake of are the sonnes or daughters heires to some person that held his land either of the king in chiefe or of some inferior person by knights seruice whose heire male being vnder the age of 21. yeeres and the female within the age of 14 yeeres the Lord shall haue the ward guard or custodie of the bodie and of the lands so holden of him to his owne vse vntill they come to these ages without making account to the heire when he or she comes to age as law bookes will tell you Lord. Then me thinkes the word as it is commonly vsed is improper namely to call â—uch an heâ—â—e a ward it is more proper to say he is in ward or as the Lawâ—er sayes a ward Sur. I take it as yâ—u do Lord But what is the reason that the Lord shuld haue the land to his owne vse why rather do not y e profits redound to y e vse of y e heire in his minority Sur. This kind of wardship had some reason for it in the beginning For you must vnderstand that he whose sonne or daughter is to be thus guarded and his land to be disposed by the Lord was in his life time bound by the tenure of his land to do manly and actuall seruice in person in the time of warre or to keepe a castle â—ith some kind of warlike weapon in the time of war and peace And these kinds of capital seruices were called either tenures in capite as holden of the king who is the chiefe Eâ—â—nage vncertaine grand seriâ—â—â—tie or some other like seruice and was called seruiciâ—m miâ—â—tare seruice of a soldier now called knights seruice These seruices were not to be discontinued for to that end were the lands first giuen by the king and other inferior Lords of MaÌ„nors that they might haue the continuall seruice of their tenants And therefore whensoeuer the tenant of such a tenure died hauing none to supply the place of like manly seruice the heire being vnder age and not of power the Lord was and is supposed to be bound for the defence of the Realme to performe the seruice by a person for whom he must answer in the heires minoritie And because the charge was in former times great and dangerous and the land giuen onely for that cause the Lord was to keepe the heire and to see him trained vp and to be made fit for the same seruice and for his maintenance supply of the seruice to haue the vse profit of his land vntill he became able to performe the seruice himselfe in person Lord. I thinke this to stand with great reason for if it had not bene thought reasonable the lawes would not haue prouided in that case as they haue done as it appeareth by your relation Sur. Many Statutes indeed haue bene made touching Wards Mag. cart ca. 4.7 28. Maâ—l cap. 6.7.8 c. Westm. 1. Westm. 2. and many Statutes since to which I refer you too long here to relate Lord. What néeded you then giue such a strict caueat touching Wardes Sur. Truely to put Lordes and others into whose hands they often happen in mind to be carefull of their education and disposing because many incoâ—ueniencâ—s follow if their Guarders be not faithfull and prouident for their wel bestowing Lord. How in bestowing Sur. In mariage For the Lordes haue the mariage both of the Male and Female if they bee vnmaried at the time of their ancesters decease And it falleth out many times that partly for their land and partly for their mariage they are bought and sold and marryed yong and sometimes to such as they fancie not when they come to riper iudgement they bewray their dislikes too late And sometimes their education is so slenderly regarded that when they come to gouerne themselues and their familyes their estates and patry monies they discouer what their education was good or euill Lord. There bée thrée especiall ends whereunto the good education of such an Infant should send The 〈◊〉 and principall is the feare of God in true Religion the second is the benefite that the Common-wealth shall reape by his vertue and sufficiencie the third and last the abilitie by which hee may gouerne his familie and manage his patrimonie for his best maintenance But what can you now say touching the second of these chiefe points Namely the presenting of Clarkes vnto Ecclesiasticall 〈◊〉 and how it commeth to passe that our Lay man as he is called may nominate and present a Clarke to a Parsonage Uicarage or 〈◊〉 Chappell whose function is high and diuine Sur. The reason why these Lay-lords of Mannors do presâ—nâ— as aforesaid is in right of the Parsonage Vicarage or free Chappell belonging to their Mannors where the Lord of the Mannor is very and vndoubted patron of such an Ecclesiasticall gift hee may make his choice of the parson or vicar Alwayes prouided by diuine ordinance humane instituâ—ions he must be Idoneus fit for the place Lord. But lye thâ—t in the Lords power onely to nominate and present such a one and is it then sufficient if hee deeme the partie fit Sur. No he must be approued fit by his Ordinarie the Byshop of the Diocesse by whom he must be instituted and 〈◊〉 Lord. Then is the Lord in his nomination and presentation cleared of offence to the Church if the partie prooue after insufficient Sur. He is in some sort But he is bound in conscience to be very circumspect in his choice For iâ— any carnall consideration mooued him to the partie he standeth not cleare before God into whose steade he intrudeth himselfe after
debitiet de iure consuet And because some of you doe not perchance vnderstand the meaning of the words thus they signifie that you are to hold your Tenements to you and your heires c. For such rent and doing such seruices as haue beene heeretofore due of right accustomed Is not this a condition for if you pay not the rent or denie the seruice you are at the Lords mercy to be compelled I doe not thinke therefore that any of you of any discretion will aduenture the losse of his intrest for not performing a seruice at his Lords commaund that tendeth also to his owne benefite and to no preiudice at all The end therefore of all mine admonition is to mooue you being a thing of common right to shewe your selues like vnto your selues true and faithfull Tenants vnto the Lord concurring all in one minde to doe the Lord this seruice in loue and the Lord no doubt will recompence it with like fauour although there be no recompence due for that which dutie bindeth to be done By this meanes you shal confirme your owne strengths by gaining retaining the Lords kind countenāce and he againe shall bee the more fortified by your true affections towards him for what a ioyfull thing is it for Lord and Tenant to dwell together in vnitie Now hauing thus prepared you to attention vnto the matters of your charge I will heere reade explaine vnto you such Articles as shall be for your instruction and leaue them with you in writing for your better memorie for I know and haue often found that a bare deliuerie of many words and of diuers things as in the charges commonly giuen in Courts Baron and leet◠euen to cares well prepared may be little effectuall lesse to him that heareth and regardeth not but least of all to him that will not heare at all Such hearers there are of diuine things but many more of humane of this kind but were they matters of carnall pleasure delight they would be both heard and practised And therfore I the more moue you to attend vnto the things which I now am to deliuer vnto you The substance of the charge of a Court of Suruey contained in the Articles following 1 First as no doubt you all know that A. B. Knight the reputed Lord of this Mannor is the true vndoubted owner of the same and of all the lands meddowes pastures and other hereditaments within and belonging to the same And that you and euery of you do hold your lands belonging vnto this Mannor of him if not who hath the interest and right of the same to your knowledges 2 You shall duly and diligently set downe or shew vnto the Surueyor in his perambulation of the Mannor all the circuit buttes bounds and limits of the same and vpon what and whose Mānors Lordships lands and parishes it bordereth on all partes And whether any confining Lord or his tenants do any where intrude or incroche vpon this Mannor where it is by whom how much is so incroched As for the bounding of the Mannor it is fittest to be deliuered vnto the Surueyor when he treades the circuit that the best experienced tenants accompany him for information and some of the youth that they may learne to know the bounds in times to come 3 Whether there be any other Mannor or Mānors lying within the limits or circuit or extending in part into this Mannor what are the names of the Manners and who are owners of them how they are distinguished from this Mannor And whether this Mannor do any way extend into or lye within any other Mannor It is often seene that one Mannor lyeth within another and intermixed one with another in such sort as the true circuits buttes and bounds become confounded necessarie therefore it is that their distinctions should be carefully obserued and recorded for oftentimes one is deuoured or otherwise iniured by the other when Lords are remisse and Tenants carelesse to bring that to certainty which is or may become doubtfull 4 What Freeholders there are within or doe belong vnto and hold their land of this Mannor what are their names what land hold they what rent pay they by what tenure doe they hold and what seruices owe they to the Lord The negligence of Lords in the due continuance of the substance of this Article hath bred preiudice to many for where Freeholders dwell out of the Mannors whereof they hold and pay vnto their Lords but a small acknowledgement as a rose a pepper corne a Ielsoflower or some such trifle or are to doe some seruice at times whereof in manie yeeres hath beene no vse they haue not beene looked for neither haue their sutes beene continued for long time insomuch as they and their tenures haue growne out of memorie and their seruices out of vse and other Lords haue intitled themselues to the land and the right Lord lost all possibilities of estate wards marriage c. As cōmon experience maketh more plaine by the daily questions and sutes which rise when profits apparent may growe by any of the former casualties And therfore it is most necessary to haue alwaies a true sute roll whereby the Steward should euery Court call the Freesuters by name to expresse what rent he should pay and what seruices he ought to do that at the death of euery suter his heire with the land rent and seruices would be inserted in his steade The profit that will hereby grow vnto the Lord and tenants is manifest and this roll is to be made by the Surueyor and to be indented the one for the Lord the other for the tenants vpō view of euery Freeholders land 5 Whether you know that any Free-holder within or belonging to this Mannor hath committed any felonie or treason and hath bene thereof conuicted the Lord not yet hauing the benefit of the forfeiture or whether hath any such tenant died without heire generall or speciall If so who hath the present vse and possession of the land and by what right what land is it where lyeth it how much in quantitie and of what value It is a great defect in the Suruey of a Mannor which remaineth to posterities being inrolled or ingrossed for perpetuall memorie when the Suruey or doth superficially passe ouer the obseruation of the lands of euery Free-holder their tenures quantitie of land the place where it lyeth the rent and seruices For vpon sundrie necessary occasions the Lord is to seeke in euery of these and some are worthie because they loue not to be at charge to find out and continue that which is not presently profitable 6 Whether doth any Bastard hold any land belonging to this Mannor as heire vnto any what is his name what land is it and where lyeth it and what is it yearely worth A Bastard though he be knowne to be the son of that father that leaueth him
I haue seene and obserued among them a kind of madnes as I may call it but in the best sence it is a kind of ambitious or rather auaricious emulation wherein they striue one to outstrip another in giuing most as where my selfe haue had businesse of this nature namely of letting setting or selling of land for yeeres or liues being or neere being determined in farmes or other like whereby the Lord hath bin at liberty to dispose therof at his will for best aduantage by choice of a new tenant Proclamation to that effect hath bin made in opeÌ„ court where I haue seene and it is dayly in vse that one wil outbid another as at an outcry in London in so much as I haue wondred at their emulation and could not haue asked what they haue raysed it vnto themselues And should any that is in authority in this case who in duty is not to hinder the Lord or the Lord himselfe inhibit such hot spirits to clyme as high for the Lords aduantage as the ladder of their owne will and supposed ability will reach This is not as one Swallow in a Summer but they are many and euery where Winter and Summer and yet are other meÌ„ accused and condemned for theÌ„ and their faults if there will be a fault in itselfe but I should thinke it greater madnes for a Lord wilfully to refuse what is so voluntarily offered and so willingly by giuen Now who is the cause of raysing rents and fines Farm I know such rash ouer forward meÌ„ there are in the world not a 〈…〉 eâ—ery Mannor who are especially priched forward to this reuelation through enuy and a 〈◊〉 hauing meanâ—â— to atchieue their desires But this bidding and out-bidding is in things wherein the Lord iâ— at his libertie to take a tenant whom holist But in 〈◊〉 tenemâ—nts of inheritâ—nce the case is otherwise where the rent is and the fiâ—e for the most part certainâ— what needes the Lord haue this surueyd or any free-hold lands Sur. It is fit the Lord should know what hiâ— tenant holde to be it free or customary though at this day there be a needlesse nicenesse in some free-holders of Mannors who seeme to conceale their estates and to kick against the view of their lands but if they knew what they did they would reforme that error Farm Call it you an error for a free-holder to refuse to shew his estate to the Lord or not to suffer his land to be surueyd Sur. I may well so call it nay I may call it a great fault or an iniury done against the Lord and hurtfull to himselfe There is none it may be you know it that holdeth of any Lord land but he holdeth the same by some kind of rent or seruice and when he comes to take vp his land after the death of his auncester or vpon purchace but he doth or ought to do homage and fealty or one of them vnto the Lord of whom he holds it the doing whereof how ceremonious it is if you be a Tenant to any such land you know and wherein he maketh a solemne vow and oth to be true Tenant vnto the Lord for the land he holdeth And someâ—â—mes the Tenant of such a Tenure is forced to be ayded by his Lord for the same land if he be impleaded for it now if such a Tenant refuse to shew his estate or to permit his land to 〈◊〉 seeâ—◠〈…〉 to â—e true Tenant and to 〈…〉 are due vnto the Lord among which this of permitting the Lord to know his owne is not the least nay he â—â—ght by his oth of fidelity to further it by all meanes both by his proper knowledge and eâ—idence not only his owne but other 〈◊〉 lands and thereby he shall not only not preiudice himselfe but he shall fortifie his title so much the more by hauing his euidence inrolled and his land recorded â—n the Lords booke of Suruey that when his heire shall take vp the land or he alâ—en the same it appeareth that he is true Tenant vnto such lands for such rent and for such seruices but there be so many scruples thrust into mens heads by such as haue a pretended skill in matters of policie in this kinde and Lords 〈◊〉 Mannors haue bene so remisse in taking knowledge of the things in this maner appertaining vnto them that questions of Titles and tenures are dayly had and moued to the great trouble oftentimes both of Lord and Tenant as is seene by experience dayly as well of land holdeÌ„ of the King as of inferior Lords which may be reconciled if Tenants were not too curious and Lords too negligent Besides this there are other reasons to mooue the Lord to know what land is holden of him and by what title rent and seruice for free-holders may forfeit their land and their land may escheat vnto the Lord if then he should be ignorant what land it is where it lyes and how much it is he may be easily abused for want of records and so are many Lords of Mannors who for want of due knowledge of their tenants and of their land tenures other men are intitled to their right Far. You haue said more then I heard or dreamed of and it holdeth in some sort by reason how it is by law I cannot dispute but in all y t you haue said you haue not satisfied me in the thing before I spake of touching the 〈…〉 which as I said before 〈…〉 â—igâ—er then in former times â—y your 〈◊〉 Sur. You strike alwayes one string and I find the â—ound of your meaning you would always 〈◊〉 easily charged in your â—iâ—es as might bed and in that I blame you not 〈…〉 mans case to beare as light a burden as he can But if you remember what I spake before touching the cause of this raysing of fines where I prooued it came most by your owne meane you may be the sooner satisfied in this for it is in nature like the former Although this kind of Tenant hath seldom any competitor to emulate his offer because the Tenant leaueth coÌ„monly one either in right of inheritance or by surrender to succeed him and heâ—by custome of the Mannor is to be accepted Tenant alwayes prouided he must agree with the Lord if the custome of the Mannor hold not the fine certaine as in few it doth now this composition is commonly made by demaund of the Lord and offer of the Tenant The Lord asketh according to his conceit of the value of the thing and eyther his knowledge must arise by his owne experience or by information the information is eyther by secret intelligence of same officious neighbour or by due iudgement of an indifferent Surueyour 〈◊〉 such a one as carieth equall respects to Lord and Tenant And although as you alledge former times did affoord Tenants more fauour in rating and arbitrating fines as you suppose if you consider it well it is now as
ran in place of the seruice Sur. The case is not alike for the annuity was not parcell of the Mannor neither can it be by such meanes as you propound by the way of Mortgage But in another sort it may as if a Mannor be to be diuided into sundry parts and because the parts fall out vnequall in value there must a rent or annuity be apportioned to make vp the value which rent becomes parcell of the Mannor Lord. If the Mannor be diuided as you say and a rent allotted to one part how can the rent be parcell of the Mannor forasmuch as in my vnderstanding the Mannor becommeth by this partition to be no Mannor for if there can be no addition to a Mannor there can be no diuision of a Mannor and yet the Mannor to continue still a Mannor Sur. Yes Sir of one Mannor may be made diuers at this day Lord. How I pray you Sur. If a Mannor descend to diuers partners and they make partition and euery one hath demeisnes and seruices euery one hath a Mannor and euery one may keepe a Court Baron Lord. What if a man make a feoffement vpon conditions of parcell of his Mannor or do graunt a Lease to another for life of part or do intayle part are not these parts still parcels of the Mannor Sur. If parcels of a Mannor be once thus seuered they immediatly become no parcels thereof yet may they all reuert and become parcels of the Mannor againe as if the condition of the feoffement be broken if the Tenant for life dye or the limitation of the entayle discontinue for want of heires Lord. Then a man may say that though such Land be not yet the reuersions are parcels of the Mannors Sur. So it is intended Lord. Well you haue reasonably well satisfied me in these poynts yet would I gladly haue some further satisfaction of some other matters touching the state and profits of a Mannor Sur. I would be willing to do my best to content you but you partly hinder me of other businesse What else would you know I wish breuity Lord. It shall be so neither shall you lose your labour for I meane to vse you if my future satisfactâ—on be answerable to this former May euery Mannor kéepe a Court Baron Sur. Euery Mannor in the beginning no doubt might keepe a Court Baron and so it may at this day vnlesse the Mannor be so dismembred as it wanteth that which may warrant the keeping thereof for if all the freeholders of a Mannor do escheat or all but one the Mannor is then disabled to keepe a Court Baron for the Court cannot be kept without suters which are the freeholders Lord. Then me thinks the Mannor loseth the name of a Mannor for if it lose the quality it is not the thing no more then a logge that had fire can be sayd a fire-logge when the fire is extinct Sur. It is true it becomes no Mannor but a Seignorâ— hauing no power to keepe a Court-Baron Lord. An ignorant Surueyor I sée may be easily deceyued in terming that which is no Mannor a Mannor and that no Mannor which indéede is a Mannor But satisfie me in this one thing A man hauing two Mannors lying together and the one of them is decayd and hath lost his power to kéepe a Court Baron and the Lord is willing to haue the Tenants of both these Mannors to do their suites and seruices to one Court namely to that which standeth yet in force and that me thinks were good for the Tenants to ease them and it would preserue the Lords right without preiudice to any for then one homage would serue both and both serue as one one Bayly and other officers as if it were an future Mannor Sur. Yet this can not bee for this vnion of the Mannors can not extinguish theyr seuerall distinctions for they will be still two in nature howsoeuer the Lord couet to make them one in name and the more powerfull Mannor hath no warrant to call the Tenants of the decayd Seignory but euery act done in one to punish an offendor in the other is trauersable and therefore it is but lost labour to practise any such vnion if it be considered by such as are forced to seruice in this kind they may refuse it yet if they will voluntarily submit themselues to such a nouation and the same be continued without contradiction time may make this vnion perfect and of two distinct Mannors in nature make one in name vse and I do not thinke but such there are Lord. Then is there as it séemeth no meane to annere two Mannors in one howsoeuer necessary it were both for the Lord and Tenants Sur. Yes Sir two Mannors may become as one if one Mannor do hold of another and it escheat to the Lord the escheated Mannor may be annexed and vnited and of two distinct Mannors become one if the Lord will in vse Lord. I am answered in this poynt and it standeth with more reason indéed then the former now I pray you tell me what things do properly belong to a Mannor Sur. There do belong to a Mannor Lands Tenements rents and seruices as I shewed you before in part which are a parcell in demeisne and parcell in seruice Lord. But speake I pray you something more at large of euery of these and first tell me what demeisnes are Sur. Demeisnes are all such Lands as haue bin time out of the memory of man vsed and occupied in the Lords owne hands and manurance as the site of the Mannor house Meddowes Pastures Woods and arable land that were reserued for the maintenance of the Lords house from the beginning Lord. This then is that you call parcell in demeisne what is that you call parcell in seruice Sur. All those lands tenements and hereditaments which yeeld rents of Assize as rents of freehold copyhold or customary land all which are parcell of the Mannor yet no demeisnes Lord. But are not all customary land copyhold land why then make you a distinction betwéene copy and customary Sur. All copy hold Land is commonly customary but all customary is not copyhold for in some places of this Realme Tenants haue no copyes at all of their Lands or Tenements or any thing to shew for that they hold but there is an entry made in the Couâ—t-booke and that is their euidence and this especially of the ancient Duchy land of Cornewall and other places Lord. These Tenants then may be called Tenants by Court-roll according to the custome of the Mannor but not Tenants by copy of Court-roll Sur. It is true but they are held only a kinde of conuentionary Tenants whom the custome of the Mannor doth onely call to do their seruices at the Court as other customary Tenants do Lord. The word conuenire where of they be called conuentionary doth as I conceiue import as much as to call together or