Of Heriots. Co. Cop. of appearance the lord may appoint a guardian. That upon every such admittance the fine may be demanded by a note in writing, to be left with such infant or feme covert. If the fine be not paid within three months after such demand, the lord may enter on the copyhold, and receive the profits thereof till he is paid his fine and costs, &c. By the 4th section it is enacted, that guardians and husbands paying such fines, shall reimburse themselves out of the rents and profits of the copyholds, notwithstanding the deaths of such infants and feme coverts. 49. Besides a fine, there is also a custom in many manors, that upon the death of every copyholder, though only for life, the lord becomes entitled to his Heriot, pl. 5. best beast, or averium. In some manors it is the § 24. Bro. Ab. Parker v. Norrice v. 2 Roll. Ab. best chattel, under which a jewel or piece of plate is included. But it is always a personal chattel, which immediately on the death of the tenant, being ascertained by the option of the lord, becomes vested in him, as his property; and is no charge on the lands, but merely on the goods and chattels of the tenant. 50. A custom that the lord of a manor shall have the best beast of every person who dies within the manor, whether he be a copyholder or not, is void; for it cannot have a lawful beginning between the lord and a stranger. 51. Although the copyholder be ousted or disseised, yet the lord will be entitled to a heriot, for he still continues to be a legal tenant. 52. A copyholder for life, in a manor where the custom was, that if the tenant died seised, a heriot should be paid, was disseised or ousted, and died; the lord having first granted the seignory to A. for 99 years, if the tenant should so long live, remainder to B. for 4,000 years. Two questions were made. 1st, Whether any heriot should be paid, because the copyholder did not die seised. As to this the Court held clearly, that a heriot was due and payable; for notwithstanding the ouster and disseisin, the copyholder still continued legal tenant; and such disseisin might have been by combination to defeat the lord of his heriot. 2d, To whom the heriot should be paid. As to this the Court held clearly, that the remainder-man for 4,000 years could have no right to it, because the copyholder was never his tenant; and as to the grantee for 99 years, it was doubted, because the moment the copyholder died, his estate was determined. Trin. Coll. v. Brown, 1 Vern. 441. 2 Ld. Raym. 994. 53. A heriot is only due on the death of the legal tenant; not on the death of the person entitled to an equitable estate in a copyhold. And the lord is only entitled to a heriot on the death of the tenant who has an interest in the copyhold; not on the death of persons for whose lives a copyhold is granted. 54. If a copyholder for life, on whose death the 2 Ld. Raym. lord is entitled to a heriot, becomes a bankrupt, and the copyhold is assigned for the benefit of the creditors; this transmutation of the tenant, by act of parliament, shall not work a prejudice to the lord, who shall have a heriot on the death of the copyholder; but not on the death of the assignee. 1002. 55. No heriot is due on the death of a married Anon. 4 Leon. 239. woman, because she can have no chattels. 56. In many manors there is a customary compo sition as 10s. or 20 s., in lieu of a heriot, by which the lord and tenant are both bound, provided it be an indisputably ancient custom. But a new composition of this kind will not bind the heirs or representatives of either party; for that amounts to the creation of a new custom, which cannot now be done. 8 Rep. 106 b. Snag v. Fox, Palm. 342. Attree V. Scutt, 57. If a heriot be due by the custom of the manor, upon the death of the tenant, and the lord purchases part of the tenancy, such purchase will not extinguish the lord's right to a heriot; for the tenant is still within the lord's homage. 58. Where a copyholder is bound to pay a heriot, and he conveys part of his copyhold to one person, and part to another, the heriot will be multiplied; it is the same if he devises it by will to several persons in severalty. 59. It was resolved in a modern case, that where a 6 East, 476. copyhold estate was divided into two parts by a devise of it to two persons, as tenants in common, each of the devisees was subject to the payment of a separate fine, and to a several heriot: that if one of the two persons surrendered his moiety to the other, the estates notwithstanding continued several, and were subject to several heriots. For if an estate held by indivisible services was divided and holden in severaity, and afterwards, by the act of the parties, came again into one hand, the services which were multiplied should continue to be payable, not as for one tenement, but for each portion respectively, that is, as for distinct tenements; for they did not again become, in respect of the lord, one tenement. That this doctrine was as applicable to an estate held in common, as to estates held in severalty. 2 Just. 131. Austin v. Bennett, 60. In the case of heriot custom, the lord may seize the best beast of the tenant, or whatever is due 1 Salk. 356. as a heriot, wherever he can find it, either within the manor or out of it; even on the highway. Parker v. Gage, 1 Show. Rep. 81. 61. In trover on not guilty before Lord C. J. Holt, the question being about a horse seized for a heriot; it was held, that either heriot service or heriot custom was seizable off the manor, because it lies in prender. 62. If a man shortly before his death bargains and Dyer, 351 b. sells all his horses to another, without any consideration, to defraud the lord of his heriot, it is void. 63. The Court of Chancery will not interpose in Wirty v. Pemberton, favour of the lord in the case of heriots, because the 2 Ab. Eq. custom is unreasonable; the loss a family sustains 279. being thereby aggravated. TITLE X. COPYHOLD. CHAP. V. Of the Forfeiture of Copyholds. 2. Attainder of Treason ΟΥ 5. Alienation contrary to the 8. Leases contrary to the Cus tom. 12. Unless by Licence of the 14. A Covenant that a Person shall enjoy is no For- 18. Waste. 21. Disclaiming Tenure. 23. Refusal to perform the Ser vices. 28. Refusal to pay Fines. 34. Non-appearance of the Heir 39. Of a Person in Remainder. 54. What dispenses with a For- 61. Who may take Advantage of a Forfeiture. 63. Where Equity relieves. 67. Where Relief has been refused. 31. Refusal to pay Rent. Attainder of Treason or Felony. SECTION 1. AS Copyholds were originally held by the lowest and most abject vassals, the marks of feudal dominion continue much stronger in this tenure than in any other. So that copyholds are not only subject to the same forfeitures as estates held in socage, but also to a variety of other forfeitures, particularly incident to them. 2. If a copyholder be attainted of high treason, his estate becomes forfeited to the lord of the manor; Hawk. P. C. not to the crown; except by the express words of an act of parliament. So if attainted of felony. e. 49. § 7. Skin. R. 8. |