1 Inst. 85. a. n. 1. 1 Inst. 108. b. n. 1. 29. In all other respects, the tenure in socage remains as it was before; for by the 5th section of that statute it is provided that it shall not take away any rents certain, heriots or suits of court, belonging or incident to any former tenure, or other services incident or belonging to tenure in socage, or the fealty and distresses incident thereunto; and that such relief shall be paid in respect to such rents, as was paid on the death of a tenant in socage. 30. Mr. Hargrave has observed, that reliefs for lands, of which the tenure is converted into common socage, are saved in some instances by this statute. For the clause which preserves rents certain, provides that such relief shall be paid in respect of such rents, as was paid on the death of a tenant in socage, from which it seemed that there could be no relief out of lands which the statute changed into socage, unless where a quit-rent was also payable. And the reason of thus expressing the act would appear, by considering that a year's rent was the relief for lands holden by common socage; consequently was never due out of lands which were not subject to a rent, unless by special custom or reservation. 31. The tenure by petit serjeanty is not named in the stat. 12 Cha. II. but still it has an operation on it; for it being necessarily a tenure in capite, though in effect only so in socage, livery and primer seisin were of course incident to it, on a descent; and these are expressly taken away from every species of tenure in capite. But in other respects petit serjeanty is the same as it was before. It continues in denomination, and still is, a dignified branch of the tenure in socage, from which it only differs in name, on account of its reference to war. Nature of Manors. 32. As most of those persons of whom lands are Origin and now held in socage, claim their feudal dominium or seignory in the character of lords of manors; and as all customary estates are held of particular manors, it will be necessary to inquire into the origin and nature of manors, and the rights of those by whom they are possessed. 33. Perkins, who wrote in the year 1532, gives the following account of the origin of manors : "And it is to know that the beginning of a manor Perk. § 670. was, when the king gave a thousand acres of land, or a greater or lesser part, unto one of his subjects and his heirs, to hold of him and his heirs, which tenure is knight service at the least, and the donee did perhaps build a mansion-house upon parcel of the same land; and of twenty acres, parcel of that which remained, or of a greater or lesser parcel, before the statute of Quia Emptores, &c. did enfeoff a stranger, to hold of him and his heirs as of the same mansionhouse, to plow ten acres of arable land, parcel of that which remained in his possession; and did enfeoff another of another parcel, &c. to carry his dung into the land, &c. and did enfeoff another of another parcel thereof, &c. to go with him to war against the Scots, &c. and so by continuance of time he made a manor *.” 34. It appears from this passage that the two material causes of a manor are demesnes and services. The demesnes comprise all that part of the land re * It was holden by Meade and Windham, Justices of the Common Pleas, in 22 Eliz. that a parsonage may be a manor. As if, before the statute of Quia Emptores Terrarum, the parson, with the patron and ordinary, grant parcel of the glebe to divers persons, to hold of the parson by divers services; the same makes the parsonage a zuanor, Godb. R.3. c. 1. § 87. tained by the lord for his own use; and from which the other parts of the land were dismembered. The freehold of these is vested in the lord; and they were formerly cultivated by his villeins, for the maintenance of his family. The services were the returns due from the persons to whom the lord had granted the freehold of the rest of the lands, to hold of him as of his manor. These consisted of military and other services, rents, fealty, and suit of court: together with the usual profits arising from reliefs, fines for alienation, and other feudal incidents. The uncultivated part of the manor was called the lord's waste, which served for public roads, and common of pasture for the lord's cattle, and those of his tenants. 35. There was another circumstance essentially necessary to a manor, namely, a jurisdiction over the tenants, which arose in the following way: It has been stated that where lands were granted to a person as a feud, a jurisdiction over the inferior tenants or occupiers of them was always included. In conformity to this practice, it is probable that in all the grants of land made by the Conqueror and his sons, a jurisdiction was given; for it appears from Dugdale's Monasticon, that in almost all the charters of lands granted by the crown to the abbies, a civil and criminal jurisdiction was expressly granted. And we know that from time immemorial every lord of a manor has exercised a jurisdiction over his tenants, 1 Inst. 58. b. and held a court for that purpose; a franchise which must have been originally derived from the crown. Gloss. 36. Manerium (says Spelman) est feudum nobile, partim vassallis, quos tenentes vocamus, ob certa servitia concessum; partim domino in usum familiæ suæ ; cum jurisdictione in vassallos, ob concessa prædia, reservatum. Quæ vassallis conceduntur, terras dicimus tenementales; quæ domino reservantur, dominicales. Totum vero feudum dominium appellatur. Olim baronia, unde curia quæ huic præest jurisdictioni, hodie curia baronis, nomen retinet. Gloss. 37. Every estate of this kind had a chief seat, or capital mansion upon it, as of which the lands granted out to the tenants were held; and being the residence of the lord, it was called in old French ma- Ragneau noir, a manendo; from whence the whole acquired the name of manor. It is also called, and with more propriety, a lordship; being a feudal seignory or dominium annexed to the possession of the demesnes, over the tenants holding lands by a subinfeudation from the antient proprietors of such demesnes, by certain services; with a jurisdiction over those persons. And Lord Coke says-" A manor in these days signifieth the jurisdiction and royalty incorporate, rather than the land or scite." Cop. § 31. Baron. 38. It appears from Spelman's description of a Of Courts manor that it was formerly called a barony; and the court in which the lord exercised his jurisdiction, the court baron. Lord Coke, after stating that a manor consists of Copyholder, & 31. demesnes and services, proceeds thus-"A word of another cause of a manor, which appeareth not in the definition so manifestly as the other causes do. This is a cause which among the logicians is termed causa sine qua non; and that is a court baron; for indeed that is the chief prop and pillar of a manor, which no sooner faileth, but the manor falleth to the ground. If we labour to search out the antiquity of these courts baron, we shall find them as antient as manors themselves. For when the antient kings of this realm, who had all the lands of England in de mese, did confer great quantities of land upon some VOL. I. E 2 Inst. 31. 4 Inst. 46. 268. §. 130. 4 Inst. c.57. Superior and inferior Manors. 212 a. great personages, with liberty to parcel the land ou to other inferior tenants, reserving such duties and services as they thought convenient; and to keep courts where they might redress misdemeanors within their precincts, punish offences committed by their tenants; and decide and debate controversies arising within their jurisdiction: these courts were termed courts baron." 39. A court baron is incident of common right to every manor. It is composed of the steward and the freeholders, who hold their lands of the manor, subject to fealty and suit of court; they are therefore bound by their tenure to attend the court baron, and assist the steward in the administration of justice. And all lords of manors may call upon their tenants to take the oath of fealty to them in their courts baron; which every lord ought to do, if it be only for the reason given by Littleton, that when neglected, it will by long continuance of time grow out of memory, whether the land be holden of the lord or not; by which he may lose his seignory, and all the profits that may accrue to him in consequence thereof. 40. Courts baron have still the power of determining, by writ of right, all controversies relating to lands within the manor; and also to hold pleas of any personal actions of debt, trespass on the case, or the like, where the debt and damages do not amount to forty shillings. 41. The persons who held of the king's immediate tenants granted out portions of their lands to be held of themselves; by which they created manors of an inferior kind, of which they were immediate lords, and the king's tenants lords paramount. Thus Bracton says-Poterit enim esse per se manerium capitale, et plura continere sub se maneria non capitalia, et plures |