Lex custumaria, or, A treatise of copy-hold estates in respect of the lord, copy-holder wherein the nature of customs in general, and of particular customs, grants and surrenders, and their constructions and expositions in reference to the thing granted or surrendred, and the uses or limitations of estates are clearly illustrated : admittances, presentments, fines and forfeitures are fully handled, and many quaeries and difficulties by late resolution setled : leases, licences, extinquishments of copy-hold estates, and what statutes extend to copy-hold estates are explained : and also of actions by lord or tenant, and the manner of declaring and pleading, either generally or as to particular customs, with tryal and evidence holder may recieve relief in the Court of Chancery : to which are annexed presidents of conveyances respecting copy-holds, releases, surrenders, grants presentmets, and the like : as also presidents of court rolls, surrenders, admittances, presentments, &c. / by S.C., Barister at Law.

Of Admittances upon Surrender.

The nature of it will be Explained by two or three Rules.

I. The surrender of a Copy-hold to J. S. hath no effect till J. S. be admitted Tenant; therefore if J. S. before he is admitted, surren∣ders to J. B. who is admitted; this avails no∣thing to J. B. for J. S. himself had nothing, and so can pass nothing, and the Admittance of his Grantee shall not be taken by implication as Admittance to himself, for the Admittance ought to be of a Tenant certainly known to the Steward, and entred in a Roll by it self, and in such case the Right and Possession remains still in him who surrendered, and descends to his Heir; he to whom the Copy-hold is surren∣dred, comes in as a Purchaser, and his Copy is his Evidence by the Custom, and till he is admitted, he can be no customary Tenant, and therefore can transfer no right to another, Yelverton 145. Wilson and Weddel. 1 Brownlow 143. Aliter in Case of Descent, Vide infra. The Admittance of a Copy-holder is com∣pared to the Induction to a Benefice, which

gives Possession. At the end of Popham, p. 127, 121. Rawlinson and Green, That Case was, Co∣py-holder surrendred his Copy-hold Estate to the Use of another, which was presented at next Court, and found by the Homage, and he to whose Use the Surrender was made, was there in Court accepted by the Steward, and a Co∣py by him granted unto him; afterwards he to whose Use this Surrender was made, sur∣renders the same again to the Use of another, which was presented, and a Copy granted to him, and he accepted as a Copy-hold Tenant, but no Admittance Entred, as Cepit de Dom. & admissus est inde tenens, &c. Per Cur. He to whom the first Surrender was made, had no Estate in him before Admittance, and whether and how far he might transfer this Interest, Curia dubitav. and whether what was done to the se∣cond Surrendree is not an assent by the Lord to the first Surrenderer? It was granted, That if the Steward accepted a Fine as of a Copy-holder, it amounted to an Admittance, 3 Bulstr. 237. mesme Case.

II. Surrenders of Copy-holds are not to be likened to Surrenders at Common Law; for if a Copy-holder in Fee surrenders to the Use of another for Life, nothing more passeth out of him than shall serve the Estate limited to the Use, and he which made the Surrender shall not pay any Fine for re-Admittance to the Reversion, for this continues always in him, 9 Rep. 107. Margaret Podgers Case.

III. The Lord hath a bare customary pow∣er to admit secundum formam & effectum sursum reddit. Therefore if there be any variance between the Admittance and Surrender, either in the Person or the Estate, or in the Tenure, its void, &c. The Lord doth only transfer an

Estate according to the Surrender. If J. sur∣render to the Use of J. S. and the Lord ad∣mits J. N. this Admittance is wholly void, and yet the Lord may afterwards admit J. S. ac∣cording to his Authority; but had he admit∣ted J. S. and J. N. joyntly, then the Admit∣tance had been void for the one, and good for the other, Co. Cop. 127.

If a man surrender to the Use of J. S. and J. D. for their Lives, the Remainder over to another; and J. S. and J. D. are admitted in Fee, yet this doth not alter their Estate, but they shall be seised according to the Surrender, 1 Rolls Rep. 317. Lane and Pannel.

Surrender is upon Condition, the Present∣ment is absolute, and the Admittance is abso∣lute; the Presentment was void: But the Sur∣renderors Release to Cesty que use shall make his Estate good, Vide supra, 4 Rep. Keit and Quinton.

If the Lord after Surrender grants to Cesty que use, and to Stranger, all shall enure to Cesty que use; or if he admit the Cesty que use upon a Condition, the Condition is void, for after Ad∣mittance he is in by him that made the Sur∣render. So if a Copy-holder surrender to the use of another, pur vie, and the Lord admit him, to hold to him and his Heirs, yet Cesty que use had but an Estate for Life, for he is in after Admittance by force of the Surrender, 4 Rep. Westwick and Wier.

Note, A Copy-hold Estate cannot be sur∣rendred to another by an Attorny, without Deed, but one may be admitted to a Copy-hold Estate, by Attorny, without Deed, Stiles Pract. Reg. 74.

Notes

• Till admission the Tenant hath no Estate.
• Where the Lords Admit∣tance of a Co∣py-holder, in other manner than agrees to the Surren∣der shall be good, and how it shall be con∣strued and enure.

  Admittances as to Limitati∣ons, alter not the Estate, for he is in by force of the Surrender.