Rolls and Registration
| Author | Christopher Jessel |
| Pages | 407-432 |
PART V
CONCLUSION
Chapter 25 Rolls and Registration 409 Chapter 26 Buying and Selling 433 Chapter 27 What is a Manor? 445 Chapter 28 What Remains 463 Chapter 29 The Future 469
Chapter 25
Rolls and Registration
25.1 EVIDENCE OF RIGHTS
The rights discussed in this book can be enforced only if there is evidence to substantiate them. The rules of law derive from Acts of Parliament, from decided cases and from custom, but the rights of individuals depend on documents. For example, if there is a question as to respective rights to the value of minerals, this may give rise to the issue of whether particular land was once copyhold. Likewise, if a lord wishes to claim a share of the mineral value, he will need to establish title. If the land was once waste the rights may depend on the terms of inclosure.
For present purposes the documents are of two main types – manorial documents and title deeds.
It will be rare in modern conditions for oral evidence of a custom to be available, although a few local people whose families have lived in the locality for generations may speak to practices they have known all their lives and what their parents may have told them. This of course will only take the evidence back a century at most, but once a court is satisfied that a practice has been carried on for many years it may be able to presume that this has been the case since 1189, thus throwing the burden of disproof on to the party resisting the custom. This is unlikely to be of much practical relevance in modern conditions save exceptionally for instance on a claim to a customary way (4.8) or for men of a manor to use a quay (15.5).
1 Stuart, D, Manorial Records (Phillimore, 1992); and Ellis, M, Using Manorial Records (Public
Record Office Publications, 1994) are both elementary and helpful.
410 The Law of the Manor
Evidence may also be available from local histories, published recollections of people who knew the locality in earlier years or records of magistrates’ courts where a matter came up for consideration. Old maps, particular tithe maps, are often relevant. In addition to inclosure Acts and awards (25.3), local acts, reports of cases decided in the royal courts, minutes of local council meetings and other official sources may exist. Claims to rights of common now depend on the registers completed in the years up to 1970. In general the register is conclusive but it may be necessary to have recourse to other evidence to substantiate such details as when the rights can be exercised or whether the registered number is accurate (10.1).
25.2 MANORIAL ROLLS
The most important manorial documents are rolls. The earliest rolls date from the mid-thirteenth century
The series of rolls generally stops in 1925 although where it took time for manorial incidents to be extinguished they could extend past this date. The final documents, not part of the roll itself but kept with it, are the receipts for the sums paid for the redemption of incidents (14.8). These are usually on mass-produced printed slips of paper, completed by hand or by typing. Such documents can be important evidence, for instance that on composition of incidents the mineral rights were excepted to the lord.
In Heath v Deane
2 Razi, Z and Smith, R (eds), Medieval Society and the Manor Court (1996).
3 [1905] 2 Ch 86.
are the public documents by which the inheritance of every tenant is preserved and the records of the manor court, which was anciently a court of justice, relating to all property within the manor.’ In Burgess and Fosters Case
Court Rolls shall (whether before or after the manorial incidents have been extinguished), for the purposes of section fourteen of the Evidence Act, 1851, be deemed to be documents of such a public nature as to be admissible in evidence on their mere production from the proper custody.
In addition, there may be other grounds for requiring their production. This can apply to any document in private custody. For example, a claim may be made under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, s 53(3)(c)(i) that evidence has been discovered that a particular route is a public footpath. This could give rise to an inquiry under the Rights of Way (Hearings and Inquiries) Procedure Rules 2007.
25.3 OTHER MANORIAL DOCUMENTS
Maps and surveys are self-evident. Written surveys go back to the Middle Ages: maps date from the sixteenth century. Both need to be interpreted with care. Some are beautifully produced, fine examples of a surveyor’s art, setting out precise boundaries, whilst others may be only sketch maps or diagrams. Generally, such documents relate only to the manor under consideration, and if it comprises part of a village the rest of the settlement is ignored. They usually refer to particular legal rights, to holdings rather than physical strips, and to head holdings rather than actual occupation. In addition these documents were often produced for a special purpose, such as a lawsuit, and when looking at a survey it is essential to ask why it was made and who paid for it.
Terriers are lists of tenements, from terra – land or territory. They contain the name of the tenant, the name of the tenement, the area, the quitrent and other services and were used for administration. Modern landlords use similar
4 (1583) 4 Leo 215, 289; 74 ER 830.
5 Snow v Cutler and Stanly (1662) 1 Keb 567; 83 ER 1115, Doe d Priestley v Calloway (1827) 6
B and C 484; 108 ER 530.
6 SI 2007/2008.
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documents to run leasehold estates. Custumals are lists of rents payable by customary tenants but may include descriptions of local customs, often sworn to by a jury of copyholders following a dispute. They may specify two or three customs or stretch to many pages. Customs are generally those of inheritance which are no longer in force, but they can also include details of rights of common or special customs, for instance in relation to minerals. Other documents include extents, setting out the limits of the manor, and various types of report.
Other documents may also be relevant to inclosure. These are not strictly manorial documents, but may relate to manorial rights. There may be information in the preliminary work such as records of meetings and occasionally reports of proceedings in Parliament, but the first important document will be the Act itself. A remarkably complete collection of inclosure Acts is in the Law Society’s library. Following the passing of an Act an award was produced. This comprised a map and an accompanying statement, usually with a schedule of allotments. Many county record offices hold copies and a few, such as those of Berkshire, are available on the internet. Others are held in private collections. Occasionally other surveys and maps are made during the inclosure process, which show matters relevant to the Act. Even where they set out allotments the parties might make other arrangements before reorganising their affairs on the ground.
The rolls of the court leet have a special status as coming from a court of record
(13.1) but, apart from that, these documents are simply evidence to be weighed and accepted or not as the court decides. The court will normally pay respect to these rolls since most were prepared with care by responsible people.
25.4 OWNERSHIP AND CUSTODY
Because of their importance as evidence of title most of the older cases concerning rolls relate to who is entitled to have them produced to support his argument in court. In an appropriate case the Court of King’s Bench (now the Administrative Court) would grant an order of...
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