No. VIII. c. 6. ing the lanas tenements or hereditaments mentioned to be devised in any will or codicil so contested, or any part thereof, or for obtaining any 25 Geo. II. other judgmen tor decree relative thereto, on or before the said sixth day o fMay in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fiftyone, and which has been already determined in favour of such heir at law or devisee in such prior will or codicil, or any person claiming under them respectively, or which is still depending, and has been prosecuted with due diligence; but the validity of every such will or codicil, and the competency of the witnesses thereto, shall be adjudged and determined in the same manner to all intents and purposes as if this Act had never been made; any thing herein before contained to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. meaning of the preceding IX. Provided always nevertheless and it is hereby declared, That no Possessions possession of any heir at law or devisee in such prior will or codicil as which are not aforesaid, or of any person claiming under them respectively, which is comprehended consistent with or may be warranted by or under any will or codicil at- within the tested according to the true intent and meaning of this Act, or where the estate descended or might have descended to such heir at law, till a future or executory devise by virtue of any will or codicil attested according to this Act should or might take effect, shall be deemed to be a possession within the intent and meaning of the clause herein last before contained. Clause. X. And whereas in some of the British colonies or plantations in America, the said Act of the twenty-ninth year of the reign of King CHARLES the Second has been received for law, or Acts of Assembly have been made, whereby the attestion and subscription of witnesses to devises of lands tenements and hereditaments have been required:' Therefore to prevent and avoid doubts which may arise in the said colo- This Act to exnies or plantations, in relation to the attestation of such devises of lands tend to such tenements and hereditaments, be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, of the British That this Act and every clause matter and thing therein contained shall Colonies, where extend to such of the said colonies and plantations where the said Act the Act of of the twenty-ninth year of the reign of King CHARLES the Second is by 29 Car. II. c. 3. Act of Assembly made, or by usage received as law, or where by Act of is received, &c. Assembly or usage the attestation and subscription of a witness or witnesses are made necessary to devises of lands tenements or hereditaments; and shall have the same force and effect in the construction of or for the avoiding of doubts upon the said Acts of Assembly and laws of the said colonies and plantations, as the same ought to have in the construction of or for the avoiding of doubts upon the said Act of the twenty-ninth year of the reign of King CHARLES the Second in England. XI. Provided always, That as to cases arising in any of the said colonies or plantations in America, no such devise legacy or bequest as aforesaid shall be made null and void by virtue of this Act, unless the will or codicil whereby such devise legacy or bequest shall be given, shall be made after the first day of March which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fifty-three. [No. IX. ] 55 George III. c. 192.-An Act to remove certain Difficulties in the Disposition of Copyhold Estates by Will.*-[12th July 1815.] WHEREAS by the customs of certain manors, copyhold estates of such manors pass by the last will and testament of the copyhold tenants A friend, to whom I had some time ago communicated my ideas upon the subjects mentioned in the preliminary note to the present title, applied to me to draw the present Act on behalf of the gentleman who had agreed to bring it forward. I wished the opportunity not to be lost of submiting tot he attention of the legislature the other 55 G. III. c. 192. modifications of the law referred to in the abovementioned note, but it was not thought expedient to include them in the intended Bill. According to the draft which I submitted, the provision would have been general, as embracing all copyhold and customary estates, with respect to such interests as a testator could by any mode No. IX. c. 192. Dispositions by hold Estates thereof declaring the uses of surrenders made for that puspose: And whereas much inconvenience has arisen from the necessity of making 55 Geo. III. such surrenders: For remedy whereof, May it please your Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That in all cases where by the custom of any manor in England or Ireland any copyhold tenant of such manor may by his or her last will and testament dispose of or appoint his or her copyhold tenements, the same having been surrendered to such uses as should be declared by such last will and testament, every disposition or charge made or to be made by any such last will and testament by any person who shall die after the passing of this Act, of any such copyhold tenements, or of any right title or interest in or to the same, shall be as valid and effectual to all intents and purposes, although no surrender shall have been made to the use of the last will and testament of such person, as the same would have been if a surrender had been made to the use of such will: made effectual without previous surrenders to the uses thereof. Persons admitted under Testamentary Dispositions, to pay the like Fees, &c. as would have been payable on such surrenders. This Act not to invalidate Devises of Copyholds, &c. II. Provided also and it is hereby further enacted, That no person entitled or claiming to be entitled to copyhold lands tenements or hereditaments, in consequence of any testamentary disposition, shall be entitled to be admitted to the same by virtue of any thing in this Act contained, except upon payment of all such stamp duties fees and sums of money as would have been lawfully due and payable in respect of the surrendering of such copyhold lands tenements or hereditaments to the use of such will, or in respect of the presenting registering or inrolling such surrender, had the same lands tenements and hereditaments been surrendered to the use of the will of the person so disposing of the same; all such stamp duties fees or sums of money due as aforesaid to be paid in addition to the stamp duties fees or sums of money due or payable on the admission of such person so entitled or claiming to be entitled to the same copyhold lands tenements or hereditaments and the stamp duties to be affixed to the copy of the admission. III. Provided always and it is hereby enacted and declared, That nothing in this Act contained shall be construed deemed or taken at law or in equity to render invalid or ineffectual any devise or disposition of any copyhold lands tenements or hereditaments, or of any right title or interest in or to copyhold lands tenements or hereditaments, which would be valid or effectual if this Act had not been made; or to render valid and. effectual any devise or disposition of any copyhold lands tenements or hereditaments, or of any right title or interest in or to any copyhold lands tenements or hereditaments, which would be invalid or ineffectual if a surrender had been made to the use of the last will and testament of the person attempting to dispose of the same by will; any thing herein before. contained to the contrary notwithstanding. of conveyance have disposed of; and I wished the testamentary power to have been subject to the general provisions of the Statute of Frauds, as one step towards that general uniformity in the mode of testamentary disposition, which I conceive would be attended with very important benefit to the public. It certainly would never have occurred to me, upon perusing the purview of the Act, to have contemplated the necessity of the concluding proviso, or the possibility of any doubts being entertained of the nature of those which the proviso is calculated to obviate. PART II. CLASS XII. Land Revenue of the Crown. [This Subject is only introduced so far as the Statutes are connected with private Titles. The Acts relating to the Regulation of official Duties are only included so far as they affect the other object.] 66 51 H. III. stat. 4. The Owner [ No. I.] 51 Henry III. stat. 4.-(The Statute De Districtione Scaccarrii.)-What Distress shall be taken for the King's Debts, and how it shall be used. FORASMUCH as the commonalty of the realm hath sustained great damage by wrongful taking of distresses which have been "made by sheriffs, and by other the King's bailiffs, for the King's debt, or for any other cause;" It is therefore provided and ordained, that may feed his *when a sheriff, or any other man, doth take the beasts of other, they to Cattle imwhom the beasts do belong may give them their feeding without dis- pounded. turbance (so long as they be impounded) without giving any thing for Bro. Distr. 72. their keeping. And that the beasts, nor no other distress taken for the 9 Ed. 4. f. 2. King's debt, nor for any other cause, be given ne sold within fifteen 5 Hen. 7. f. 9. days after the taking. And if any bring the tally of a payment made 21 Ed. 4. f. 53. in the Exchequer, the distress shall cease. And if he bring the tally of No Sale of Disany sheriff or bailiff of payment made to them of the thing demanded, tress within and will find pledges that he will appear in the Exchequer upon the fifteen days. next account to do as right shall require, then the distress shall cease. And the sheriff or bailiff shall cause him to be attached that ought to have acquitted him, that he appear upon the same account to do as right shall require; and there shall have the names of the pledges. Yet it is provided, that no man of religion, nor other, shall be distrained by his beasts that gain his land, nor by his sheep, for the King's debt, nor the debt of any other man, nor for any other cause, by the King's or other bailiffs, but until they can find another distress, or chattels sufficient whereof they may levy the debt, or that is sufficient for the demand (except impounding of beasts that a man findeth in his ground, damage Regist. 97. feasant, after the use and custom of the realm). And that such distresses Rast. 226. be reasonable, after the value of the debt or demand, and by the esti- Bro. Distress, "mation of neighbours, and not by strangers, and not outrageous. How- f. 31, 67. beit, the King willeth and commandeth that sheriffs, or their bailiffs, 4 H. 7. f. 8. that have received the King's debt of the summons of the Exchequer, Dyer, f. 312. and have not acquitted the debtors thereof at the next account, shall Fitz. Brief, 662, be punished after the statutes made thereupon. And the King willeth, 52 H. 3. c. 4. that all debts of summons of the Exchequer that the sheriff or bailiff 29 E. 3. f. 16. have confessed receipt, shall be allowed him forthwith: so that whether 29 E. 3. f. 24. he received all the debt, or part, it shall never come more in demand See 1 u.586 nor summons, after the sheriff hath confessed the receipt.' No distress Ed. 1, stat. 3, c. 12. 41 E. 3. f. 26. 588. A Sheriff which receiveth the King's Debt, shall acquit the Debtor. Enforced by 3 Ed. 1. which subjects Sheriffs offending to a Penalty of treble the receipt. The words in Italics are not in the original. For By the King's or other Bailiffs, read By the King's Bailiff or other Person. No. I. 51 Hen. III. stat. 5. 51 Hen. III. st. 5. When the King's Bailiffs and Officers shall accompt. Bailiffs of Fran 51 Henry III. stat. 5.-(De Scaccario.)-When the King's Fermors Sheriffs and Bailiffs shall make their Accompts and Payments. Who shall be Escheators in several Shires. THE King commandeth that all manner of bailiffs sheriffs and other officers, as well the justices of Chester and other bailiffs of these 'counties, as other that be receivers of issues of wards of escheats of their 'bailiwicks shall be answerable in the Exchequer, and there shall make 'account to the treasurer and barons of the sume place. And that all 'sheriffs fermors bailiffs of franchises and other, shall come to the Pro'fer in the Exchequer the Monday after the Feast of Saint Michael, and the Monday after the Utas of Easter, for to pay their ferms rents and 'issues belonging to the King, and † shall bring at the foresaid terms the foresaid ferms rents and issues due wholly into the Exchequer as before is mentioned. And if they make default, their bodies shall remain without departing from thence, until they have paid or made agreement; and he that will not come at the terms aforesaid, shall be amerced after the custom of the Exchequer; and the sheriffs and bailiffs at the same ' terms shall bring and pay such money as they have received of the summons of the Exchequer and other the King's debts, and shall be prepared and ready to make full accompt of the things aforesaid. II. And that all bailiffs of franchises, which ought to levy the King's chises Accompt. debts and be answerable to the sheriffs thereof, shall come and accompt sufficiently, according to the extreats of the summons of the Exchequer; and such as do not their bodies shall remain in ward of the sheriffs; ' and for default in them, the sheriffs shall cause the debts to be levied 'by their own bailiffs where they have power, as they have used to do in 'time passed. And if the bailiffs do not come in at the day that the she"riff shall give them knowledge, the sheriff shall enter into the same 'franchises, and levy the debts with his own hand. The Justices and Bailiffs of Chester's ac compt. III. Concerning justices of Chester and bailiffs thereof, the King willeth that they, or one of them, shall come at the Profer of St. Michael every year, when they ought to give account unto the King; and at the Profer of the Utas of Easter they shall come likewise, and bring in that which they owe to the King for that term; and the justices of Chester 'shall have day to accompt from year to year in quindena Pascha; and keep the King's the bailiffs thereof the Morrow of Easter Utas. And that all sheriffs of Sheriffs shall Wards and Es- Altered by 32 which esta blishes the Court of the King's Wards, and made obs. by 12 Car. 2. c. 24. Three Surveyors. Wards and Escheats let to Ferm. Sheriffs Es cheators in other Shires. England, except the sheriffs of Westmoreland Lancaster Worcester Rutland and Cornwall, shall from henceforth keep all such wards and es'cheats that are not in other fees as belong to the King, which be within 'their shires; and of the issues thereof they shall be answerable in the Exchequer at the terms aforesaid; ‡ and at their turns that they make in their shires, they shall find office of other things which the King's escheators have not used to find of that which belongeth unto the King, once or twice in the year, to as little grievance of the people as they can. And the 'sheriff's shall seize the escheats that fall, to remain unto the King in fee, ' and shall certify the King of them without delay. IV. And the King shall assign three able persons that shall go throughout the realm to survey and find the wards and escheats aforesaid, from year to year, when they shall think requisite. And the sheriffs by their counsel shall approve and let to ferm or otherwise, such 'wards and escheats, as they shall think most for the King's advantage. V. Touching the five shires before named, the King will that the 'sheriff of Cumberland shall execute the office of escheator in the shires ' of Westmoreland and Lancaster; and the sheriff of Nottingham in Rut The words in Italics not in the origmal. ✦ For Shall bring at the aforesaid terms, &c. read Shall come at the aforesaid terms, and shall there bring in full the aforesaid ferms rents and issues and pay them into the Exchequer. The meaning of this sentence seems to be as follows: And at their turns which they make in their shires they shall be answerable for their offices, and for other things which the escheators used to do, and which belong to the escheat, once, &c. N. B. What follows in the next sentence but one clears up this passage. land; and the sheriff of Gloucester in Worcester; and the sheriff of Devonshire in Cornwall; and shall safely keep the King his wards and 'escheats in the same shires, and shall be answerable in the Exchequer 'for the issues of them as well as for their own shires. And the three 'able persons aforesaid shall survey and extend such wards and escheats, as well there as in other places, and those shall be approved by their 'counsel. And when the sheriffs do accompt for their counties, they 'shall accompt for such wards and escheats. And in like manner shall the justices of Chester do and their bailiffs also, every one for his bailiwick. And the said three able persons shall keep the King's de'means, and shall approve them as they shall think best for the King's advantage, and shall be answerable in the Exchequer for the issues: And they shall have power to let forth small manors and demeans to folk of the same places, or to other, according to their discretion, and 'shall let them to ferm from year to year as they shall think most to the King's profit: And the fermors shall be chargeable for their ferms unto the principal approvers, and they unto the Exchequer the morrow next 'after the Ascension, from year to year. No. I. 51 Hen. III. stat. 5. VI. And the principal collectors of the custom of wools at the two Collectors of ' terms before mentioned, shall pay all such money as they have received the Custom of ' of the said custom, and shall make accompt from year to year clearly Wools. ' of all parcels received in any of the ports or other places of the realm, so that they shall answer for every ship where it was charged, and how 'much wool it carried, and for every other charge in the ship whereof custom is due, and for the whole receipt. VII. And the warden of the King's wardrobe shall make accompt The Accompt of ❝ yearly in the Exchequer in the feast of St. Margaret; and the treasurer the Keeper of and barons of the Exchequer shall be charged by oath, that they shall the King's ⚫ not attend to hear the pleas or matters of other men while they have to Wardrobe. do with the King's business, if it be not a matter that concerneth the The King's 'King's own debt. And when a sheriff or bailiff hath begun his accompt, Debt shall be 'none other shall be received to accompt, until he that was first appointed heard. hath clearly accompted and his money received. And that the constable 'marshal chamberlain and other that are of fee in the Exchequer, from 'henceforth shall present unto the King such as they have put in their 'places to do their offices, which must be of good fame and sufficient, for whose acts themselves will answer. VIII. And the King commandeth the treasurer and barons of the Deputy-OffiExchequer upon their allegiance and by the oath that they have made cers in the Exto him, that they shall not assign any in their rooms but such as this chequer. 'Act meaneth of, and that the Exchequer be not charged with more per 'sons than is necessary. And that none of them that be sworn to the King, shall put in his room any other clerk or lay person, except he be 'sworn, without special licence of the treasurer; and if any be, he shall be forthwith removed from his office, and none other shall be received in his stead without the King's licence. And if any that is received without the treasurer's licence do trespass after, punishment shall be 'done as well to the assignor as to him that is assigned according to the trespass. And if both be unsufficient, their superior shall be punished, whether he be officer of fee or other. And the treasurer shall put no other in his room until he hath commandment from the King. And if 'he that keepeth the room of another by licence of the treasurer doth any thing that he ought not to do, he shall be punished according to the 'trespass if he have whereof; and if he have not, he that put him in 'office shall be charged for his trespass; and if he that put him in office 'be not sufficient, his superior shall be charged, whether he be of fee or ' otherwise. IX. And they of the woolstaple shall make oath, that if any of them Of the Woolmay perceive that another doth commit any default offence or other staple is inserted thing + dishonest in the Office of the Woolstaple, or that he hath done before, by mistake. 'that they shall certify it to the treasurer, or to the barons, or to some + Not in the ' of them, who shall cause it to be amended, or to the King himself, if original. need require. And that about the Feast of St. Margaret, before that the |