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.

THE PREFACE TO THE PRACTICERS OF THE LAW.

SIR Edward Coke in Bagnal and Tucker's Case, in Brownl. 2 Rep. is of Opinion, That the third part of this Realm is in Copy-hold. If we consider the long and con∣tinued Series of Practice that this Great Man was Conversant in, either at the Bar or Bench, and to whom persons from all parts and corners of the Nation resorted, as to the Oracle of the Law, we shall not

easily conceive his Judgment was not Temerarious, but rather that he had good Reason for such positive conjecture: However, it is most certain, That a vast number of Estates (and those considerable too) depend upon no other than Cu∣stom, in point of Title, and are no other ways preserved in point of Evidence, then by Copies of Court Rolls.

Now we find large and very elaborate Volumes published con∣cerning Estates and Tenures at Common Law, and yet very little hath been professedly wrote upon this Subject, tho' so great a part of the Lands and Estates of this Nation are protected and preserved by it; which I the more wonder at, for that to know when a Cu∣stom is good and allowable in Law requires a more than ordinary skill, and amongst the infinity of Cu∣stoms to try them by, and perti∣nently

to apply them to those four standing Essentials, Antiquity, Con∣tinuance, Certainty and Reasonable∣ness, is a Work of great Judgment and Dexterity; besides Constructi∣ons and Expositions of Grants and Surrenders, the Penalty and fatal Consequence of Forfeitures under an obstinate Lord, especially such as are wilful, the nicety and variety of Customs, seem very well to de∣serve a particular and designed Treatise.

I remember but two that have professedly handled this piece of Learning, my Lord Coke in his Compleat Copy-holder, and Mr. Cal∣throp in his Readings, which tho' they are done with good Judgment, yet, as they do totally omit many Titles which are of great Use, so they extend to very few more Cases than those which are amast together in the 4th Report; since

which we have thousands of Cases Argued and Debated, and some Points started which are primae im∣pressionis; and in truth it is not fit to croud so much excellent Learning, and of such general Use into a Manual.

In this Treatise you will find Totum Domini & Totum Tenentis. The Lord may see his power (tho' moderated) and the Tenant may understand his Duty and his Privi∣ledge. For Tempora mutantur; when Bracton and Fleta wrote, poor Co∣py-holders tempestive & intempe∣stive pro voluntate Domini possent re∣sumi & revocari.

But the Lord now is not En∣throned like a Grand Seigniour, whose Proceedings are Arbitrary and his Humors Laws; no, he is a mixt Monarch, he is bound up by the Customs and Constitutions of his little Empire. 'Tis true, they are Tenants Ad voluntatem

Domini, yet this Will is abridged, clogged and restrained secundum consuetudinem Manerii.

The Learning of Copy-holds is subtle and curious, in the Argu∣ments and Pleadings. As for the purpose, That great Question, whe∣ther and how Copy-holds may be Intayled, has been Argued with great subtilty and penetration, as you may read Popham, p. 32. Gra∣venor's Case. Cro. Car. 42. Rowden and Malster's Case. And in Car∣ter's Reports 22. Taylor and Shaw's Case.

Now the mentioning of this Ar∣gument hath presented me with an Answer to what I foresee will be imputed as Faults to me.

In some Cases I am thought too tedious, and write a great part thereof Verbatim, and I think I have reason so to do (tho' that is but seldom.) The reason of some Cases will ill bear abstracting; as,

to Instance in that Great Man's Reports, I mean my Lord Hobart and Mr. Justice Yelverton's Cases. They that can satisfie themselves with half a Case, let them dabble in those silly Abridgments of Moor, Croke, &c. I was always of this mind, That in the gelding a close and well compacted Argument, the Vigour of it is in a great measure dwindled and emascu∣lated.

Another Crime perhaps may be, that I cite one Case two or three times; and I do so when I meet with a copious prolifick Case, which brancheth it self into several Points, I thought it more Intelligible and Methodical to Graft each Shoot into its proper Title, whether it be a point in Law, or a Formality in Pleading.

But not to spend time in crea∣ting Apologies for Crimes per∣haps which I shall never be accu∣sed,

Gentlemen, I surrender the whole to your Use, and hope thereby to gain Admittance into your favou∣rable Opinion.