What is a

4. A Court Baron is incident to every Manor, and is Caufa fine qua non, the very Prop and Pillar of the Manor; but few Manors have Courts Leet, for inferior Lords of Manors cannot keep Courts Leet without a fpecial Prefcription, or fome fpecial Grant from the King.

5. In a Court Baron the Suitors are Judges, but in a Court Leet the Steward is Judge,

6. In a Court Baron the Jury may confift of lefs than twelve, but not in a Court Leet; for in a Court Baron none are impanell'd upon the Jury, but Freeholders of the fame Manor; but in a Court Leet Strangers may be impanelled.

7. A Court Baron cannot fubfift without two Suitors ad minimum; a Court Leet may fubfift without any.

8. Courts Baron inquire of no Offence committed against the King; but Courts Leet inquire of all Offences under High Treafon, committed against the Crown and Dignity of the King.

9. A Writ of Error lies on a Judgment given in a Court Leet, but not on a Judgment given in a Court Baron.

10. In a Court Leet a Capias lies; but in a Court Baron, instead of a Capias, an Attachment by Goods is used.

11. In a Court Baron an Action of Debt lies for the Lord himself, because the Suitors are Judges; but in a Court Leet the Lord cannot maintain an Action for himself, because the Steward is Judge.

A Copyholder is Tenant by the Copy of Court Copyholder. Roll, and is the only Tenant in Law which holds by the Copy of any Record, Deed, or Charter. The Title or Eftate of the Copyholder is entered into the Roll, whereof the Steward delivereth him a Copy; from whence he is called a Copyholder.

His Eftate.

A Copyholder originally had (in Judgment of Law) but an Estate at Will, yet Cuftom had so established and affixed his Eftate, that this by the Cuftom of the Manor is defcendible, and his Heirs fhall inherit it; fo that the Cuftom of the Manor is the Life and Soul

of

of Copyhold Eftates; for without a Cuftom, or if they break their Cuftom, they are fubject to the Will of the Lord. And by Cuftom, a Copyholder is to have his Land according to the Cuftom, as he which had Freehold at Common Law.

As a Copyhold is created by Cuftom, fo it is guided by Custom.

A Copyholder doth not derive his Eftate out of the Eftate or Intereft of the Lord only, for then the Copyhold Eftate fhould cease when the Eftate of the Lord determined; but the Copyholder is in by Cuftom.

Yet it is looked upon as a bafe Eftate, and not fo worthy as Freehold.

If a Tenant at Will be outlawed, his Estate is determined; but a Copyhold is not forfeited or determined by Outlawry..

In voluntary Grants made by the Lord himfelf, ge- Who may be nerally the Law neither refpecteth the Quality of his Grantors of Perfon, nor the Quantity of his Eftate; for if he be Copyholds. an Infant, or Non compos Mentis, an Ideot or Lunatick, an outlaw'd Perfon, or an Excommunicate, notwithstanding these are Difabilities at the Common Law,. yet Grants made by him are good, by reafon the Cuftom of the Manor confirms them to the Copyholder, if the Lord's Title to the Eftate be good and lawful.

And 'tis not material whether the Lord's Eftate be Quality of in Fee Simple, Fee Tail, or Dower, or as Tenant by their Eftates. the Curtefy for Life or Years, as Guardian, or as Tenant by Statute, or by Elegit, or at Will; the leaft of these Estates is a fufficient Warrant to the Lord to grant any Copyhold efcheated unto him.

If the Lord of a Manor be attainted of Felony or Murder, by Verdict or Confeffion, any Grant by Copy made after the Felony or Murder committed and be fore the Attainder, fhall ftand good, notwithstanding the Relation.

The fame Perfons, that are capable of a Grant by Who may be the Common Law, are capable of a Grant by Copy, Grantees. according to the Cuftom of the Manor.

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A Feme

Surrenders.

A Feme Covert may be a Purchaser of Copyhold, and this Purchase fhall ftand in Force until her Hufband difagreeth: Nay, a Feme Covert may receive Copyhold Eftate by Surrender from her Husband, because the cometh not immediately by him, but by the Admittance of the Lord, according to the Surrender.

A Copyhold Intereft cannot be transferred by any other Affurance than by Copy of Court-Roll, according to the Cuftom, and that by Surrender.

If I will exchange a Copyhold with another, I cannot do it by an ordinary Exchange at the Common Law, but we must furrender to each other's Ufe, and the Lord admits us accordingly.

If I will devife a Copyhold, I cannot do it by Will at the Common Law, but I muft furrender it to the Ufe of my laft Will and Teftament, and in my Will I muft declare my Intent.

A Surrender (where by a fubfequent Admittance the Grant is to receive its Perfection and Confirmation) is rather a manifesting the Grantor's Intentions, than a paffing away any Intereft in the Poffeffion; for till the Admittance the Lord taketh Notice of the Grantor as Tenant, and he fhall receive the Profits of the Lands to his own Ufe, and fhall discharge all Services due to the Lord: But yet the Intereft is in him but fecundum quid, and not abfolutely; for he cannot pafs away the Eftate to any other, or make it fubject to any other Incumbrance, than it was fubject to at the Time of the Surrender: Neither is any manner of Intereft vefted in the Grantee before Admittance; for if he enters, he is a Trefpaffer, and punishable in Trefpafs; and if he furrender to the Ufe of another, this Surrender is void, Yet the Grantee cannot poffibly be deluded or defrauded of the Effect of this Surrender; for if the Lord refufe to admit him, he is compellable to do it by a Subpoena in the Chancery, and the Grantor's Hands are ever bound from the difpofing of the Land any other Way, and his Mouth ever ftopp'd from revoking or countermanding his Surrender.

A Copy

A Copyholder may furrender his Copyhold by Attorney, in case he be in Prison, fick in Bed, or beyond the Seas; but he may not be admitted by Attorney, because he must do Fealty in Perfon.

If a Copyholder languishing in Extremity furrenders out of Court to the Use of his Coufin in Confideration of Confanguinity, or to the Ufe of his Son in Confideration of natural Love and Affection, and after recovereth his Health before Prefentment, this Surrender is revocable or countermandable; but if it be granted for valuable confideration, as for the Difcharge of Debts, it is binding and irrevocable; as are likewife all other Surrenders.

In voluntary Admittances the Lord is only esteem'd Admittances. Cuftom's Inftrument; and if the Lord admits any one contrary to Cuftom, either in Reservation of the Rent, or in any other Particular, this fhall not bind his Heir or Succeffor, because Cuftom hath not fufficiently confirm'd it.

And as in Admittances upon Surrenders, fo in Admittances upon Defcents, the Lord is ufed as a mere Inftrument, and no manner of Intereft paffeth out of him; and therefore neither in the one nor in the other is any Refpe&t had unto the Quality of his Eftate in the Manor; for whether he hath it by Right or by Wrong, it is not material; thefe Admittances fhall never be called in Queftion for the Lord's Title, because they are judicial Acts, which every Lord is injoined to execute. Co. 4. Fo.27.b. Co. 1. Fo. 140. b.

Admittances by the Lord to a wrong Perfon is void and of no Effect; and in fuch Cafe the Lord muft make a fecond Admittance, which muft be to the right Perfon, and he will enjoy the Estate, and the firft have nothing.

If I furrender with the Refervation of a Rent, and the Lord admits, not referving any Rent, or referving a lefs Rent than I referved upon the Surrender, this Admittance is wholly void: So if I furrender upon Condition, and the Lord omits the Condition, the Admit

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tance

Services.

tance is wholly void, for the Admittance in all Refpects must agree with the Surrender.

Tho' a Man may not enter upon Lands upon a Surrender before Admittance, yet the Heir upon Defcent, where there is no Surrender, is to moft Intents a perfect Tenant of the Land inftantly upon the Death of his Ancestor; for he may enter into the Land before Admittance, take the Profits, punish any Trespass done upon the Ground, furrender into the Hands of the Lord to whofe ufe he pleafeth, &c.

The Custom of every Manor is compulsory in Point of Admittance; for either upon Pain of Forfeiture of their Copyhold, or of incurring fome great Penalty, the Heirs of Copy holders are inforced to come into Court, and be admitted according to the Cuftom, within a fhort Time after Notice given of their Anceftor's Death.

Services of Submiffion are Homage and Fealty, which are certain Ceremonies ufed among Tenants, whereby they fubmit themselves unto their Lords, and bind themfelves by folemn Oath, or by faithful Promise, from that Day forward to become the Lord's Men, for Life, for Member, for, terrene Honour, to owe unta him Faith for the Lands which they hold of him. These Ceremonies are ufed at the firft Entrance or Admittance of any Tenant, to enforce him to acknowledge and confefs himself Tenant unto his immediate Lord...

Homage and Fealty differ, in the following Points, viz. in doing Homage the Tenant kneeleth; in doing Fealty he ftandeth. In doing Homage the Tenant muft remain uncover'd; in doing Fealty he may remain cover'd. In doing Homage the Lord kiffeth the Tenant; in doing Fealty he kiffes him not. In doing Homage the Tenant promifeth to become the Lord's Man for Life, for Member, and terrene Honour; and in doing Fealty he only fweareth to become the Lord's faithful Tenant. In fhort, Homage efpecially concerneth Service in War, to attend their Lords; and

Fealty