which lands are now absolutely vested in the said recoverer by judgment of law, and seizin thereof is delivered by the sheriff of the county. So that this collusive recovery operates merely in the nature of a conveyance in fee-simple from Edwards the tenant in tail to Golding the purchaser.

2. The force and effect of common recoveries may appear to be an absolute bar not only of all estates-tail, but of remainders and reversions expectant on the determination of such estates. So that a tenant in tail may, by this method of assurance, convey the lands held in tail to the recoverer, his heirs and assigns, absolutely free and discharged of all conditions and limitations in tail, and of all remainders and reversions.

Before I conclude this head, I must add a word concerning deeds to lead, or to declare, the uses of fines, and of recoveries. For if they be levied or suffered without any good consideration, and without any uses declared, they, like other conveyances, enure only to the use of him who levies or suffers them. And if a consideration appears, yet as the most usual fine," sur cognizance de droit come ceo, &c." conveys an absolute estate, without any limitations, to the cognizee; and as common recoveries do the same to the recoverer; these assurances could not be made to answer the purpose of family settlements, (wherein a variety of uses and designations is very often expedient) unless their force and effect were subject to the direction of other more complicated deeds, wherein particular uses can be more particularly expressed.

If these deeds are made previous to the fine or recovery, they are called deeds to lead the uses; if subsequent, deeds to declare them.

CHAPTER XXII.

OF ALIENATION BY SPECIAL CUSTOM.

We are next to consider assurances by special custom, obtaining only in particular places, and relative only to a particular species of real property. This therefore is a very narrow title; being confined to copyhold lands, and such customary estates, as are holden in ancient demesne, or in manors of a similar nature: which being of a very peculiar kind, and originally no more than tenacious in pure or privileged villenage, were never alienable by deed; for, as that might tend to defeat the lord of his signiory, it is therefore a forfeiture of a copyhold. Nor are they transferable by matter of record, even in the king's court, but only in the court baron of the lord. The method of doing this is generally by surrender.

Surrender, sursum redditio, is the yielding up of the estate by the tenant into the hands of the lord, for such purposes as in the surrender are expressed. As, it may be, to the use and behoof of A and his heirs to the use of his own will; and the like. The process, in most manors, is, that the tenant comes to the steward, either in court, (or, if the

custom permits, out of court) or else to two customary tenants of the same manor, provided there be also a custom to warrant it; and there by delivering up a rod, a glove, or other symbol, as the custom directs, resigns into the hands of the lord, by the hands and acceptance of his said steward, or of the said two tenants, all his interest and title to the estate; in trust to be again granted out by the lord, to such person and for such uses as are named in the surrender, and the custom of the manor will warrant. If the surrender be made out of court, then, at the next or some subsequent court, the jury or homage must present and find it upon their oaths; which presentment is an information to the lord or his steward, of what has been transacted out of court. Immediately upon such surrender in court, or upon presentment of a surrender made out of court, the lord, by his stew, ard, grants the same land again to cestuy que use, (who is sometimes, though rather improperly, called the surrenderee) to hold by the ancient rents and customary services; and thereupon admits him tenant to the copyhold, according to the form and effect of the surrender; which must be exactly pursued. And this is done by delivering up to the new tenant the rod, or glove, or the like, in the name, and as the symbol, of corporal seizin of the lands and tenements. Upon which admission he pays a fine to the lord according to the custom of the manor, and takes the oath of fealty.

This method of conveyance is so essential to the nature of a copyhold estate, that it cannot properly

be transferred by any other assurance.

ment or grant has any operation thereupon.

No feoff

In order the more clearly to apprehend the nature of this peculiar assurance, let us take a separate view of its several parts; the surrender, the presentment, and the admittance.

1. A surrender, by an admittance subsequent whereto the conveyance is to receive its perfection and confirmation, is rather a manifestation of the alienor's intention, than a transfer of any interest in possession. For, till admittance of cestuy que use, the lord taketh notice of the surrenderor as his tenant; and he shall receive the profits of the land to his own use, and shall discharge all services due to the lord.

2. As to the presentment: that, by the general custom of manors, is to be made at the next court baron immediately after the surrender; but by special custom in some places it will be good, though made at the second or other subsequent court. And it is to be brought into court by the same persons that took the surrender, and then to be presented by the homage; and in all points material must correspond with the true tenor of the surrender itself. If a man surrenders out of court, and dies before presentment, and presentment be made after his death, according to the custom, this is sufficient. So too, if cestuy que use dies before presentment, yet, upon presentment made after his death, his heir according to the custom, shall be admitted.

3. Admittance is the last stage, or perfection,

of copyhold assurances.

And this is of three sorts:

first, an admittance upon a voluntary grant from the lord; secondly, an admittance upon surrender by the former tenant; and thirdly, an admittance upon a descent from the ancestor.

In admittances upon surrender of another, the lord is to no intent reputed as owner, but wholly as an instrument: and the tenant admitted shall likewise be subject to no charges or incumbrances of the lord; for his claim to the estate is solely under him that made the surrender.

And, as in admittances upon surrenders, so in admittances upon descents by the death of the ancestor, the lord is used as a mere instrument; and, as no manner of interest passes into him by the surrender or the death of his tenant, so no interest passes out of him by the act of admittance. And therefore, neither in the one case, nor the other, is any respect had to the quantity or quality of the lord's estate in the manor. For whether he be tenant in fee or for years, whether he be in possession by right or by wrong, it is not material; since the admittances made by him shall not be impeached on account of his title, because they are judicial, or rather ministerial acts, which every lord in possession is bound to perform.

Admittances, however, upon surrender, differ from admittances upon descent in this: that by surrender nothing is vested in cestuy que use before admittance, no more than in voluntary admittances; but upon descent the heir is tenant by copy immediately upon the death of his ancestor: not indeed