dale early in the session of 1841, and after having been referred to a select committee of the House of Lords, were consolidated into one bill and sent to the Commons, where several clauses were added in Committee and on recommitment, which were agreed to by the Upper House; and the bill received the Royal assent on the twenty-first day of June, 1841.

Observations on the New Act.

The object of this Act is, through the medium and Objects of machinery of the tithe commissioners ;-1st, to enable the Act. lords and tenants of lands of copyhold and customary tenure to commute manorial rights for an annual rent-charge, variable according to the price of corn, barley, and oats, or for a fine on death or alienation, also variable according to the price of corn; 2ndly, to facilitate enfranchisement; and, 3rdly, to improve such tenure.

The Act extends to England, Wales, and Ireland, Extent of and comes into operation from the date of the Royal the Act. assent, as to all its provisions, except the sections 86, 87, 88, 89, and 90, empowering lords of manors -after the 31st December, 1841-to hold Customary Courts, although no copyhold tenant be present; grant lands to be held by copy of court roll out of the manor; and dispensing with the presentment by the homage, in cases of admission. To encourage parties to make use of the Act, all agreenents, awards, schedules of apportionment, and powers of attorney, made under it, are exempted from the stamp duty (clause 93).

The Act is not to apply to crown lands, unless Crown where expressly mentioned (s. 98), and is not to lands.

Mines and minerals.

affect the Duchy of Cornwall in any case (s. 99). Why these clauses were inserted, it is difficult to understand; it must have been some after-thought of the legal advisers of the Crown, as they were not in the bill originally. The copyhold property held by her Majesty in right of the crown, and of the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, is very considerable ; and great benefit would have arisen, had the Act been extended to those manors: but as was said before, the Act does not apply at all to the Duchy of Cornwall; and as to the rest of the Crown manors, the provisions which do extend to them, only relate to the third part of the preamble, that is to say, the improvement of such tenures, and do not include any powers of commutation or enfranchisement (s. 97).

In a case before the Master of the Rolls, and subsequently before the Lord Chancellor, in June last, one of the inconveniencies of copyhold tenure was strongly illustrated (g). In this case the Queen, in right of the Duchy of Lancaster, was lady of the manor; the defendant, under a grant from the Crown, claimed the right to work his mines throughout a whole district, part of which was covered with houses, and the right so to work the mines does not appear even to have been disputed; the only question at issue was, whether the copyhold tenants (the owners of the houses,) were entitled to any compensation for their houses falling down, in consequence of the substratum being undermined.

Rights in all mines and minerals are excepted from the operation of the Act, unless expressly com

(g) Hilton v. Lord Granville. MS. note.

muted; and it is to be feared, that, with respect to this grievance in the tenure, not much will be done under the Act. As has been before observed, (p. 4,) great controversy frequently occurs between the lord and the copyholder, as to their respective rights in mines and minerals; and often they remain quite unproductive and unopened in consequence of neither the lord nor the tenant having any power to work them, without the leave of the other.

A very curious custom is mentioned by Camden, as to the lead mines in the Mendip Hills in Somersetshire. He says, they are free to be worked by any Englishman, except he has forfeited his right by stealing any of the ore or tools of the others (h).

tenure.

Although the clauses 85-93, empowering courts Improveof equity to decree partition of copyhold lands, and ment of the facilitating admissions and holding customary courts, will certainly be beneficial where the tenure remains; the great objects of the Act are contained in the two first heads, namely commutation and enfranchisement.

1st, as to commutation. As the commutation is Commutato be voluntary, the concurrence of the lords and tion. tenants is necessary to carry it into effect; but the Act is so far compulsory, that a lord whose interest

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(h) Camden's Brit. 78. The exception did not in all probability often occur, from the summary vengeance taken on the offender. The groviers," (i. e. miners,) says Camden, "living at some distance, leave their tools and the oar (ore) they have got sometimes open upon the hill; or at best, shut up in a slight hut. Whoever, amongst them, steals any thing, and is found guilty, is thus punished: he's shut up in a hut, and then dry fearn furzes, and such other combustible matter is put round it, and fire set to it. When 'tis on fire, the criminal, who has his hands and feet at liberty, may with them (if he can), break down his hut, and making himself a passage out of it, get free and be gone; but must never dare to do any more on the hill."

is not less than three fourths in value, and tenants amounting to three fourths in number, and whose interest is not less than three fourths in value, may make an agreement by which all will be bound; even extending to rights in mines and minerals, if expressly agreed upon (s. 13). The meetings for effecting this agreement (which are for the commutation of entire manors, or of such part of a manor as the commissioners shall, under their hands and seals (with the consent of the lord) declare to be a manor for the purpose of any commutation under the Act (s. 102), are to be convened by public advertisement; and due provisions are made for ascertaining and representing the interest of all parties (s. 13). If a party interested is under any disability, or beyond the seas, the guardian, trustees, committee of the estate, husband, or attorney respectively, (as the case may be,) is to be substituted for such interested party (i).

The commutation may be made for an annual sum by way of rent-charge, variable according to the price of corn, where it exceeds 20s., and a small fixed fine on death or alienation, not exceeding 5s. (s. 14).

A commutation may also be made in consideration of a fine on death or alienation, or at any fixed period to be agreed on by the parties; such fine to be fixed either by the agreement, or by valuers; but also to be variable according to the price of corn (s. 15).

For the purpose of electing a chairman at a meeting, the lord's vote is to be reckoned at one third of the whole number, and the votes of the tenants

(i) See also post, p. 26 & 56.

individually (s. 16). But to make a commutation agreement, appoint valuers, &c. the mode of computation is more complicated. The interest of tenants liable to arbitrary fines is to be estimated according to the poor rate; or if not rated, then as near the annual value of the land as the chairman can estimate. The commissioners, if applied to by the parties, are to make special rules for computing the interest of tenants liable to fines certain, and to heriots in kind; but if no such rule is applied for, as to the former, the annual value is to be considered at one half the fine certain, and as to the latter, as near one fifth of the annual value of the land, as the chairman can estimate (s. 17).

The commissioners, after the receipt of the necessary valuations and information from the valuers appointed by the parties (s. 24), and from the steward of the manor, are to make a schedule of apportionment, of which copies are to be deposited with the lord or steward of the manor for inspection, time being allowed and fixed for notices to the parties interested, and the correction of errors; and subject to such provisions, the apportionment is completed by the confirmation of the commissioners under their hands and seals (s. 32).

It will be observed, that the before-mentioned agreements are for commuting whole manors, or what are to be considered as such; but power is also given by this Act to any tenant or any lord (whatever may be their respective interests), with the consent of the commissioners, to enter into an agreement for the commutation of all or any of the lord's rights in consideration of a corn rent-charge, or a fine on death or alienation; and facilities are given

C