vanced, and a transfer of the original likewise, the duty on mortgages in general attaches to such fresh sum, in this instance, for every entire quantity of 1080 words after the first Bonds, &c. charged with ad valorem duties. Appointments under powers in settlements. Deeds or wills in favour of persons specially named. Deeds merely declaring trusts, pursuant to previous settlement, &c. Wills and testamentary papers. COPYHOLD ENFRANCHISEMENT. ENFRANCHISEMENT is "the changing of the tenure from base to free;" and is effected by "the lord's conveying to the tenant the freehold of the particular and specific premises which were held by copy, or by releasing to the tenant his seignorial rights” (a). When the lord has only a limited interest in the manor, he is, of course, precluded from carrying a treaty of enfranchisement into complete effect; and as the acceptance of a conveyance of a portion only of the freehold interest operates as a merger of the whole of the copyhold,—the two estates being incompatible, it behoves every copyholder, who is desirous of enfranchising his estate, to satisfy himself that the lord is seised of the manor for an estate in fee-simple, or, at all events, that a power has been reserved to him to grant the freehold and inheritance of the copyhold tenement, or that he is acting under some special authority created by Act of Parliament (b). If a copyhold estate be enfranchised by a tenant in tail, the issue in tail will be barred; and where copyholder in tail takes a conveyance of the freehold in fee, the copyhold is merged (c). (a) 1 Watk. 362. 1 Scriv. 654; & see 42 Geo. 3, c. 116; 48 Geo. 3, c. 73; and 58 Geo. 3, c.45. (c) Parker v. Turner, 1 Vern. Cha. Ca. 393 Challoner v. By the enfranchisement of tenant in tail in possession, remaindermen are barred (d). Enfranchisement is effected according to the Ves. jun. 524. rules laid down by Watkyns; (e) (e) 1 Watk. 362. First; "By the conveyance of the lord estate. Thirdly; It is "the conveyance of the freehold;" and this should be effected by a feoffment, bargain and sale, or the like; though the release by the lord of the seignorial rights, will equally effect an enfranchisement. Fourthly; The conveyance must be of the freehold "of the particular and specific premises which were held by copy." The principal hardships attached to copyhold tenure are, generally, confessed to be heriot-custom and fines arbitrary or uncertain; as, for copyholders of inheritance with a fine certain, or relatively so, to use the words of Blackstone, "We may look upon them as little inferior to absolute freeholders in point of interest, and, in other respects, particularly in the clearness and security of their titles, to be frequently in a better situation" (ƒ). For several years past, founded, I believe, on the first Report of the Real Property Commissioners, Bills for the Enfranchisement of Copyholds, or for Commutation of Manorial Rights, have been introduced into both Houses of Parliament. In the year 1838, the subject was referred to a select Committee, who were appointed to consider of the Enfranchisement of Copyholds, and to report their opinion thereon; and who were empowered to report the Minutes of Evidence taken before them. On the 13th of August in the same year, they agreed to the following Report:— "Your committee find that, under the existing law, the power to enfranchise copyholds very generally exists. It is usually either incident to the estate of the lord, or it is given to him by the deed or will under which his lands are settled. The disposition, however, to enfranchise is by no means equally extensive with the power: this arises, in many cases, from ignorance of the just right of the parties, in others, from a desire to preserve undisturbed manorial privileges and authorities; but, in the great majority of cases, from the want of a tribunal in which both parties have confidence to adjust their respective rights. "Your committee regret that any impediment (f) 2 Bl. 150. should exist in the way of this enfranchisement. From a very early period, complaints have been made against copyholds, and regret has frequently been expressed that they were not included in the great alteration which was made in the law of tenures in the reign of Charles the Second. Very shortly after this change took place, Roger North, in his Life of Lord Keeper Guildford, vol. 1, p. 36, says: 'Small tenements and pieces of land that have been men's inheritances for divers generations, to say nothing of the fines, are devoured by fees; so that if it were only to relieve the poorest of the landowners of the nation from such extortions and oppressions, without more, there is reason enough to abolish the tenure. It was somewhat unequal when the parliament took away the royal tenures in capite, that the lesser tenures of the gentry were left exposed to as grievous abuses as the former.' Your committee are satisfied that this tenure is ill-adapted to the wants of the present day, and is a blot on the juridical system of the country. They consider that the peculiarities and incidents of copyholds (which have their origin in the villeinage of the feudal system) are at once highly inconvenient to the owners of the land, and prejudicial to the general interests of the state. By the nature of the copyholder's tenure, independent of custom, some of the most valuable productions of the soil are distributed between the lord and the copyholder, so as to be of little value to either. Thus the lord cannot cut the timber growing on the land without the consent of the tenant, nor can the tenant cut it without the licence of the lord: the lord cannot open and work a mine under the soil without the consent of the tenant, nor can |