Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	pay_v	rent_n	tenant_n	2,576	5	9.7256	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38520	Epistola Medio-Saxonica, or, Middlesex first letter to His Excellency, the Lord General Cromwell together with their petition concerning tithes and copy-holds of inheritance, presented to the supreme authority, the Parliament of England : wherein the tortious and illegal usurpation of tithes, contrary to Magna Charta, is discovered, the blemished dignity of copy-holders revived, and how lords of manors have formerly incroached upon their liberties, by imposing arbitrary fines, and multiplying of heriots : whereunto is annexed two additional cases concerning the unreasonable exactions of fines and heriots, contrary to law, in these latter times ...	Cromwell, Oliver, 1599-1658.; Wingfield, Augustus. Vindiciae Medico-Saxonicae.	1653 (1653)	Wing E3170; ESTC R5296	18,776	30

Case in these words Inquirendum est etiam de custumariis viz. quot sunt custumarii quamtum terrae quilibet custumarius teneat qua opera quas consuetudines faciat quantum opera censuetudines cujuslibet custumarii valeant per annum quantum redditur de reddit Assisae per annum praeter opera consuetudines qua possunt talliari quae non ad voluntatem Domini which in English according to a true and Grammatical translation is as followeth Inquity is to be made also of customary Tenants that is to say How many customary Tenants there are and how much Land every customary Tenant holdeth what works what customes he doth and how much the works and customs of every Customary Tenant are worth by the year and how much is paid meaning by every one of the Rent of Assize by the year besides their works and customes which may be rated and valued as two or three dayes work in a year with Plough and Cart and which are not at the will of the Lord Whereby it appears that a whole Parliament esteemed of them as customary Tenants that their Rent was accounted then parcell of the Rent of Assize and that all their works and customes were certain according to the opinion of those two great Lawyers before-quoted who lived in or near the said times one whereof was Lord Chief Justice of England and the other a great and learned Bishop And for as much as Copy-holders have been as much oppressed in Heriots as in any other duty or service we will therefore in brief speak a word or two concerning the antient Law in that point Fleta lib. 2. cap. 50. and Brit. fo 178. both say that the Copy-hold Tenant making his Testament upon his Death-bed ought to make an acknowledgement of his Lord by giving of him one Heriot And Bracton lib. 4. cap. 26. saith that the Soccager whether qualified or free ought at his death to respect his Lord with one Heriot Quae tamen praestatio est magis de gratia quam de jure which prestation or performance saith he is rather of favour than of right and doth not at all touch the inheritance And if we look a little higher Glanvill Lord Chief Justice of England in H. 2. lib. 7. cap. 5. De legibus censuetudinibus Angliae of the Laws and Customs of England saith in these words Potest quilibet liber homo majoribus debitis non involutus c. Every Freeman not greatly indebted may in his sicknesse make a reasonable devise of his goods under this form according to the custom of the Country that he do acknowledge his Lord with the best and principallest he hath next the Church and afterwards other persons as he pleaseth but saith he whatsoever the customes of diverse Countries and places are in this point according to the Lawes of the Kingdom no man is bound in his Testament to leave any thing to any person but at his free will and pleasure For every mans will saith he is free as well in reference to Testamentarie Laws as to other Laws So that here you may plainly perceive that by the Law of the Land according to the opinion of this great Iudge no Heriot was due and if there were any due by any particular custome it was but one and that upon death only and must be given by the Testator by Will too and not be much in debt neither whereby it appeareth according to the opinion of those great Lawyers Fleta Britt Bracton and Glanvill all those Heriots which have been exacted of late in such multiplied numbers have been illegal unjust and contrary to the good Laws and Customs of this Nation in former times Now by what hath been briefly said it may easily appear to any indifferent man who hath incroached most upon each others Liberties Whether the great and potent wealthy Lord of the Manor carrying all things before him by the virtue and charm of his unrighteous Mammon or the poor despised trampled-under-foot-Copy-holder who hath been forc'd to lose his Liberties to preserve his lively-hood Whereas according to those great authorities of Bracton Britton and others above quoted all Fines Customes and other services of Copy-holders ought neither to be changed nor increased and that according to others who have strained the Law beyond its due bounds in favour to Lords of Manors all unreasonable Fines and Services are forbidden and if all unreasonable then certainly all Arbitrary since it is abundantly made known by long experience to the People of this Nation that all Arbitrary power as is the power of Lords of Manors to set what Fines they please upon their Tenants at Death or Alienation is oppressive Tyrannical and contrary to the peace and freedom of this Common wealth as fully manifested in a Declaration of this Parliament set forth in March 1648. In these words The Parliament of England elected by the People whom they represent have long contended against Tyranny and endeavoured to remove oppression Arbitrary power or power of will and all opposition to the peace and freedom of the Nation And again in another Declaration of the 7th of April 1646. in this manner And as both Houses have already for the ease and benefit of the people taken away the Court of Wards and Liveries with all Tenures in Capite and Knight services So we shall take special care that as speedy and as great ease may be had otherwise in other grievances as the pressing occasions of the Commonwealth will admit Wherefore these arguments premised being seriously considered we humbly crave of your Excellency that you would be pleased to intercede with our Representative for the removall of that unjust and slavish bondage and yoke which neither we nor our fore-fathers have been able to bear that so we may not only in spirituals but also in temporals enjoy that freedom and liberty which not only by Law but by right of Conquest is due to the wel-affected people of this Commonwealth It is the Law of Nature yea and the Law of Christ too Fac alteri quod tibi vis fieri do to others as you would be done to If so How can freedom liberty be denyed to those who with the hazard and losse of their lives goods and all have purchased freedome and liberty not only to their Representatives and well-affected Potentates but also to those who have been enemies to this Commonwealth whereby they who under the Monarchical yoke were in bondage not only in respect of their estates but of their persons also are now restored to a noble and glorious liberty whilst their fellow brethren who ought to be sharers in this freedome lye under the burthen of Tithes and bondage of Copy-holds many whereof do at this day retain the dishonourable names of base Tenure and Villanage in the worst sense as if we were rather returning back to Egypt than in our progresse to Canaan Ah most religious Sir did we

friends Gods friends and their Countries friends should now at length be left to remain in bondage and Gibeonitish slavery whilst their enemies riot and abound in liberty and freedom Wherefore we humbly desire that all Copy-holders of Inheritance may according to your severall Declarations of the 7th of April 1646. and of March 1648. be restored to christian freedom and liberty the fruits of Conquest and the just reward of their expence and hazzard that so of victors they may not become slaves and vassals in their estates to their conquered Lords whom they begin already to feel and are dayly like to find more cruell and unreasonable than ever if they shall return again to reign over them with the full sayl of usurped power Thus hoping that the same God who hath even miraculously given you Victory over your enemies rest from warres peace in your Habitations and put a power into your hands to do righteous things for the good of this Nation will also put into your hearts and minds to do these things represented unto you and what else you in your wisdoms shall know to be for the good and welfare of this Common-wealth And we shall ever pray c. The Case of Copy-holders stated according to the * Quando lex accommodatur ad causam personam non è contra When the Law is applyed to the cause and person not they to it Lesbian Rule of the Law in the corrupt times of Monarchy wherein is clearly proved that no Lord of a Manor of Copy-holds of Inheritance can take for a Fine where as they say uncertain of his Copy-hold Tenant two years clear yearly value of the Land FIrst Because it is resolved by Popham Chief Justice Clench Gaudy and Fenner Justices of the upper Bench in the 42. and 43 Eliz. between Hubbard and Hammon that if the Fines of Copy-holders of a Manor are incertaine upon admittances yet the Lord may not demand or exact an excessive or unreasonable Fine and if he doth the Copy-holder may deny to pay it without forfeiture and according to this resolution it was then said that it had been formerly adjudged in the same Court in one Hoddesdons Case Cookes Reports lib. 4to Now it is a Rule and Maxim that all excessivenesse is abhorred in Law and that all things ought to be interpreted with equity and moderation As put case the Lord of a Manor where Fines through his Tyranny are incertain hath taken time out of mind about a years value not much under nor over If there one of his Copy-hold Tenants shall improve his Land by great charge and industry from 5 l. per annum to be worth 20 l. per annum and then dye and after the Lord shall set two years Fine viz. 40 l. upon his Heir this will be an excessive and most unreasonable Fine First Because where a Lord hath usually taken about a year though a little under or over there to take a year and half though according to the value before improvement is excessive and so illegall if the Rules of right reason moderation and equity were closely held to and kept Next it is altogether unreasonable because through this improvement of the Tenant with a vast expence and charge perhaps treble to the Land the Lord now comes to take in a little compasse of time at a year and halfs Fine six years years value at two years Fine eight years value according to the yearly Rent and worth of the Land before improvement So that now a covetous and unconscionable Lord as too many there are will take advantage to enrich himself out of the Tenants vast expence and industry contrary to the Rules of Iustice equity and honesty Secondly and lastly no Lord of a Manor can by the present Law take two years clear yearly value for a Fine where as Lawyers say they are uncertain though repugnant to those great Authorities in the Letter before recited and contrary to their own Maxims and abundantly savouring of tyranny upon the admittance of a Copy-hold Tenant as is clearly resolved in an action of Trespasse between Stallon and Brady commenc'd in the first year of King Iames in the Court of Common Pleas where the Lord of the Manor did set a Fine at two years clear yearly value which the Tenant denying to pay being unreasonable the Lord enters and thereupon the Tenant brings an action of Trespasse and after five years demurre consultation being had with all the ludges and great Lawyers of England it was at length viz. in the sixth year of King Iames by the Iudges of the said Court of Common Pleas fully and unanimously resolved that the said Fine of two years was unreasonable and so no forfeiture by the Tenants denial Now from hence it must be concluded that for any Lord of a Manor to demand a year and a halfs Fine is the very utmost rigour and extremity of the Law as it hath flowed to us out of the impure fountain of Monarchy and all those who have exacted more have done illegal and unwarrantable Acts according to that Lesbian Rule But where Tenants have at their great charge made improvements as is above declared there for the Lord to take a year much more a year and half is altogether unconscionable and against the Rules of equity The Case of intolerable Oppression in point of Heriots A Copy-hold Tenant holds a 100. Acres of Land worth per annum 5 s. per Acre and 20 s. Rent yearly and for which the Lord claims a Heriot upon Death The Tenant aliens his Land to a hundred men now by our Book-Law made in corrupt times meerly in favour of Lords and to oppresse poor people the Lord of the Manor shall have his 20 s. Rent and besides a Heriot for every Acre upon the death of every particular Tenant for this reason which is no reason because a Heriot is an indivisible service so that it may so fall out that the Lord shall have Heriots in a short time to the value of one thousand pounds whereas the whole is not worth five hundred pounds and besides a poor man having an Acre of his Land not worth five pound and dying seised the Lord shall enter upon his Goods and take away for a Heriot a Cow or Horse worth six or eight pound to the utter ruine of his Wife and Children Now from a division of Land to urge a multiplication of Heriots hath neither antient Law reason nor honesty in it notwithstanding those slight Arguments and fond distinctions of Heriot Service and Heriot Custome which are used to the contrary REader these names should have been placed at the end of the 13th Page Col. Pride Aug. Wingfield Robert Cromwell Col. Potter Henry Arundell Nich Beale FINIS Vindiciae Medio-Saxonicae OR Tithes totally Routed BY MAGNA CHARTA IN A Reply to an Answer of Middlesex Letter and Petition in the latter end of a Tract called A Treatise of Tithes WHEREIN The Invalidity of

Magna Charta no Custome of the Land for Clergy-men to have Tithes out of every Proprietors Estate but that they were the proper right and inheritance of the owner of the Land And for confirmation hereof it is said by learned Selden in his book of Tithes that in H. 2. his time which was a little before the said Decretal Parochial right was the right of having the Cure and offering of the Parishiones and that to that Parochial right no right of Tithes was annexed by the practise of that time Whereupon it was usual with the Religious and secular of the Clergy to covenant with their Tenants to pay them the Tithes of their Lands that so they might prevent the Minister of the Parish where the Lands lay Now if there had been then any Parochial right or custom for receiving Tithes how could such a Covenant have prevented the Parochial Minister And that this is a clear truth is evidenced by an Act of Parliament in the first year of Rich. the 2. and in the year of our Lord 1377. in these words It is accorded that at what time any person of Holy Church be drawn in plea in the Secular Court for his Tithes taken by the name of Goods taken away and he which is so drawn in plea maketh an exception or allegeth that the substance and sute of the businesse is only upon Tithes due of right and of Possession to his Church or to another his Benefice that in such case the General averment shall not be taken without shewing specially how the same was his Lay Catall that is to say for him to aver and maintain that the Tithes he laid claim to did belong unto him by Parochial right and custome as Minister of the place was no good and allowable plea in Court but that he must shew in special and in particular how the said Tithes he laid claim to became his Lay Catall whether by grant gift or otherwise So that here is not only an acknowledgement of the Pope and Clergy but an Act of Parliament against Parochial right and custome of Tithes And yet should we grant them a custome for Tithes which they cannot claim without blushing of what weight how like a feather would it be being put in the scale with Magna Charta And although it may be objected that they have now a long time enjoyed them even time out of mind yet that will not avail much since it is not a lawfull user but an abuser and tortious Act carryed on with a power contrary to all Law equity and justice Moreover in customes Non diuturnitas temporis sed soliditas rationis est consideranda Not length of time but soundnesse of reason is to be weighed Upon which ground at a Parliament at Kilkenny in Ireland in the 40th of Edw. 3. The Irish customes called the Brehon Law though of long continuance were null'd by that Parliament upon this ground or Maxim that malus usus est abolendus an ill custome as Tith-taking is ought to be abolished So that the plea of a long continued custome of taking Tithes contrary to Magna Charta ans common right will but little conduce to the justification of its authority and lawfullnesse And if from hence any shall fly to Scriptures refuge which none but avaritious Sciolists in sacred law and language will attempt we shall if the weaknesse of their own arguments be not a clear confutation of their errors and injustice return a modest and sober answer Secondly and lastly as to the other branch of our Petition concerning Copy-hold Lands of inheritance finable and also heriotable by the Tyrannicall practise of many at the will of the Lord of the Manor we humbly conceive that by the equity of the tenth chapter of Magna Charta Let no man be distreined to do greater service for his free Tenement than he ought grounded upon the 25. ch of Levit. v. 17. Ye shall not oppresse one another all those arbitrary and unreasonable exactions of Fines and Heriots exercised of late years by Tyrannical Lords of Manors have been illegal and repugnant to the equity if not the letter of the said Charter and have run beside the chanell of charity law and justice But because many of late and former times have laboured much to vilifie and obscure the credit and esteem of Copy-holders of inheritance and their tenure thereby to make way for their pride avarice and Tyranny we shall therefore make a little further inquiry into the discovery of them Bracton lib. 4. ch 28. saith that Villenagiorum aliud purum aliuà privilegiatum Of Villenages one kind is pure and perfect Villenage the other a more free honourable and privileged Where note that Villenage in its proper and genuine signification is nothing but the service of a Husbandman which may be either honourable or base according to the quality of the person and tenure and therefore he saith Pure or base Villenage is that whereby either a free man or a bond-man so holds of his Lord as that he is tyed to do whatever he shall command him not knowing over night what he must do the next morning and always in all things is held to uncertainties and of this sort is Littletons Tenure of Villenage whose large Tract upon that subject might well have been spared since there were very sew if any even in his time who held by that base and unworthy I enure Now the other sort called by Bracton Privilegiatum Privileged Villenage or as he termeth it in his 2d book and 8th and and 35th Chap. Villanum Soccagium qualified Soccage which is the same with Littletons Tenure of Copy-holds where the Tenants hold their Land by Copy of Court Roll as Cook in his Commentaries upon Littleton 1. p. Inst fo 58. acknowledgeth So that Bractons qualified or privileged Soccage and our Copy-holds are one and the same which is more clearly proved by the same manner of conveyance in alienations for saith he in li. 2. cap. 8. Si Villanus Sockmanus Villanum Soccagium if a qualified Sockman or Copy-holder will convey his qualified Soccage to another let him surrender the same unto the hands of the Lord or his Steward and let the other receive it from them which is the form we now use And in his 1. Book and 2d Ch. they are called Gleba ascriptitii Inrolled Tenants of the Glebe or Manor and who did enjoy such privileges as that they could not be put out so long as that they paid their certain and yearly pensions whosoever was Lord neither might they be compelled to keep their Tenement but might alien when they pleased and they them as we now did hold their Tenements ad voluntatem Domini secundum consuetudinem Manerii at the will of the Lord according to the custome of the Manor Yet was not that such an unbridled will as many pragmatical Novices in Iurisprudential Learning now Imagine not a naturall will but a legall will bounded by

reason Law and custome So that if the Lord of the Manor did at any time goe about to disturb or put them out of their Tenements although they might not have an Assize yet they had Parvum breve de Recto secundum consuetudinem Manerii a small writ of right according to the custome of the Manor for to regain their Estates Bracton lib. 1. cap 2. lib. 5. cap. 2 where the writ is likewise expressed And in his 4th book and 28 Chap. He saith That if the Tenant be ejected by his Lord he shall have a jury impannell'd to enquire of the Covenant and consent of the Lord in admitting of him to be his Tenant whom he ejected and he shall be restored because Jura non debent juvare dominum contra voluntatem consensum suum quia semel voluit conventionem The Laws ought not to relieve the Lord against his own will and consent because he hath made a Covenant that his Copy-hold Tenant shall enjoy his Tenement performing his services and customes li. 2. cap. 8. and li. 4 cap. 28. And in the Reign of E. 3. and E. 4. Sir Iohn Danby and Thomas Brian Lord chief Justices were of opinion that Copy-holders ejected by their Lords might have an action of Trespasse Neither is Bracton single in his good esteem of privileged Sockmans or Copy-holders since Fieta writ by a great Lawyer about E. 2 his time and Ockam in H. 2. his Reign do both of them honour Copy-holders in those elder times with the name of customary Tenants And Ockam not only spake worthily of them but of their Original whose works through the envy and Tyranny of the times have not had the liberty to appear in publique And Lambard in his book De Priscis Anglorum legibus of the ancient Laws England saith That Copy-holds were long before the Conquest and then call'd by the name of book-Book-land and since the Conquest they have been honoured with many worthy appellations as of Copy-holders in H. 5. of Tenants by the Rod in H. 4. of Tenants by the Roll according to the will of the Lord in E. 3. of Customary Tenants in in E. 1. Cooks 1. p. Iust fol. 58. And because Copy-holders have been much abused in the late corrupt times of Monarchy not only in the disgracing of their Tenure but also in the altering and multiplying their Customes and services great persons falsly pretending as if poor Copy-holders had nil de jure but all de gratia nothing of right but all of favour Therefore for further satisfaction we will make some brief discovery therein Bracton in his first Book and second Chapter saith That the works of privileged Sockmans or Copy-holders were though servile yet certain and nominated And again in his 4th Book and 28th Chapter That qualified Sockmans had their Tenements granted unto them to hold by Covenant for certain services and customes named and expressed although the services and customes were servile that is with Cart Plough or the like at certain set times in the year according to agreement And again a little after Villani Sockmanii villana faciunt servitia Qualified Sockmans do servile works and services yet certain and determined Now Cook upon Magna Charta ch fol. 13. saith That in these words reasonable customes and reasonable services all Fines whether certain or uncertain and other Customes and Duties are comprehended And if so then for certain all Fines of Copy-holds were in Bractons time certain and not as now uncertain and Arbitrary But yet by the way take notice that he doth not speak of any Fines to be paid by Qualified Sockmans upon death or alienation that word under that notion being unknown to him or any other as we conceive of that age And having in his second Book and five and thirtieth Chapter treated at large who ought to do Homage and who Fealty and having shewed that both free and qualified Soccagers ought to do Fealty to their Lords comes in the following Chapter to treat of Reliefs and in the eighth branch of the Argument of that Chapter makes this Quaerie Si de Soccagiis dari debet relevium If of Soccages speaking plurally a relief ought to be given which must be understood both of free and qualified Soccage and towards the latter end of the Chapter saith Et nunc videndum si de Soccagio dari debet relevium And now next comes to be considered whether a Relief ought to be given of Soccage which being spoken indefinitely and in generall without adding any Epithet either of free or qualified must in all construction if you consult the beginning of the Chapter be understood both of free and qualified Soccage So that that duty or performance which upon the death of the Ancestor was given in recognitionem Dominii by way of acknowledgement of his Dominion and Lordship and as he saith ad relevandam haereditatem to relieve and raise the Estate and Inheritance into the hands of the Heir was Praestatio quaedam loco relevii a certain prestation or performance instead of a Relief for he will allow it properly to be a Relief which the Soccager either free or qualified paid due onely upon death but never upon alienation and was ever certain namely a double Quitrent that is to say one years Rent due to the Lord besides the yearly Quitrent And this is that Duty as we clearly conceive which since they have new named and called a Fine and exacted not onely upon deaths of Copy-holders but Alienations also and not onely according to two years Quitrent as by Law they ought but according to their unreasonable lusts and desires forcing from their Tenants not onely two years but even three years Fine and more according to the yearly value and Rent of the Land So that the Copy-holder who was wont according to the antient Law and Custome to pay for a Fine upon Death onely but two years value according to the Quitrent is now driven to pay two and three years value according to a full and rackt Rent and that upon alienations too con-contrary to the said antient Law and Custom and all good conscience Neither is Bracton alone in ascertaining the services and customes of Copy-holders but others have said the same and namely Britton a Bishop in E. 1. and very learned in the Laws and who at the Kings Command composed them into a compleat Volum where treating of Copy-holders of Inheritance setteth it down for positive Law that such were their privileges that their Lords might neither increase their services under which as before is shewed are comprehended Fines nor change them to make their Tenants doe other services or more Brit. fo 165. And accordingly was the judgement of a whole Parliament in the same Kings Reign though ill if not of purpose and vitiously translated which yet for further satisfaction we will here set down as we have received it pointed and comma'd by Cook in his 4th book of Reports in Browns