Dr. Sullivan in his learned treatise on the feudal law ob serves, that though copyhold tenants (and tenants in an- * page 244. cient demesne) are common in England, yet there are none such in Ireland. It is very true that there is scarce any trace of this villenage tenure, whether pure or privileged, in Ireland: And I believe the manor of Kilmoon or Primate's-town, in the County of Meath, where the copy-hold tenure exists, is a single exception to the truth of the learned Doctor's observation.† wardship. c. 17. E. & L III. The relief due upon socage tenure is ascertained $3. by the 28 Edw. 1. st. 1. E. and I. which declares that a Socage tenure, free sokeman shall give no relief, but shall double his relief and rent after the death of his ancestor, according to that 28 Edw. 1. which he hath used to pay his lord, and shall not be st. 1. E. & L grieved above measure. As to wardship, which is another incident to tenure in socage, the 52 Hen. 3. c. 17. 52 Hen. 3. E. and I. provides, that if land holden in socage be in the custody of the friends of the heir, because the heir is within age, the guardians shall make no waste, nor sale, nor destruction of the inheritance; but shall safely keep it to the use of the heir, so that when he cometh to his lawful age, they shall answer to him for the issues by a lawful account, saving to the guardians their reasonable costs. And the 28 Edw. 1. st. 1. E. and I. further declares, that where lands in socage descend on the part of the mother, the guardianship shall belong to the next of kin upon the part of the father. But the provision of the 12 Car. 2. c. 14. Eng. and 14 and 15 Car. 2. c. 19. Ir. has been already stated, by which this guardianship in socage may be superseded by the appointment of a testamentary guardian. CHAP. There is not at present any such thing as a copy-hold in the counties of Anglesey, Carnarvon, and Merioneth; nor are there in Ireland any such tenures. Barrington's observations on the statutes, page 234. CHAP. III. Of Freehold Estates of Inheritance. Statute de donis. c. 1. s. 1 & 2. E. & I. The Statute Westm. 2. 13 Edw. 1. st. 1. c. 1. s. 1 & 2. 13 Edw. 1. st. 1. E. & I. (commonly called the statute de donis conditionalibus) enacts concerning lands given upon condition, viz. where any giveth his land to a man and his wife, and to the heirs begotten of the man and his wife, with condition expressed, that if the man and his wife die without heirs of their bodies between them begotten, the land shall revert to the giver or his heir; also where one giveth lands in free marriage, which gift hath a condition annexed, though not expressed in the deed, that if the husband and wife die without heir of their bodies begotten, the land shall revert to the giver or his heir; also where one giveth land to another, and to the heirs of his body issuing; the will of the giver, according to the form in the deed of gift, shall be observed; so that they to whom the land was given under such condition, shall have no power to alien the land, but it shall remain to their issue after their death, or shall revert to the giver or his heirs, if issue fail; neither shall the second husband of any such woman have any thing in the land so given, after the death of his wife by the law of England; nor shall the issue of the second husband succeed to the inheritance; but immediately after the death of the husband and wife to whom the land was given, it shall return to their issue, or to the giver, or to his heir. And by s. 3. this manner of writ shall be granted to the party that will purchase it. Præcipe A quod juste, &c. reddat E. manerium de F. cum suis pertinentiis quod C. dedit tali viro et tali mulieri, et hæredibus de ipsis viro et muliere exeuntibus: Or thus, quod C. dedit tali viro in liberum maritagium cum tali muliere, et quod 8.3. post post mortem prædictorum viri et mulieris, prædicto B. filio eorundem viri et mulieris descendere debeat per formam donationis prædictæ, ut dicit, &c.: Or, quod C. dedit tali et hæredibus de corpore suo exeuntibus, et quod post mortem illius talis, prædicto B. filio prædicti talis descendere debeat per formam, &c. This statute (s. 4.) ́ also provided that if a fine should be levied upon such lands, it should be void in law; and that neither the heirs, nor those in reversion, though of full age, within England, and out of prison, need to make their claims : but the statutes which have since directly authorized, or indirectly sanctioned, the barring of such estates tail by fine, and by a common recovery, will be stated in a subsequent chapter. 8. 4. CHAP. IV. Of Freeholds not of Inheritance. THE principle of law which restrains tenants for by them. § 1. life from cutting down timber, or committing other waste Tenants for life, upon their estates, has been modified by several statutes &c., entitled to a moiety of timpassed in Ireland for the encouragement of planting. ber trees planted By the 9 Geo. 2. c. 7. Ir. if any person seised of an es- 9 Geo. 2. c. 7. tate for life, or in tail, with a remainder over, shall plant ir. on liis said estate oak, ash, elm, fir, or other timber tree, the executors or administrators of such tenant for life, &c., shall be entitled to a moiety of such trees, except planted for ornament or shelter in any avenue leading to the mansion house, or in the walks of any garden belonging to the mansion house of such tenant for life, &c.; to be recovered from the person in possession of the estate by virtue of such remainder, in manner following: (viz.) the said executors, &c., shall, within one year after the their executors. to charge the remainder-man. the death of the said tenant for life, &c., take out of Proceeding by chancery a writ of inquiry directed to the sheriff of the county where such trees stand, (for the sealing of which 18. shall be paid) empowering the sheriff, within 21 days after the receipt of said writs, to inquire by a jury, (having first given to the party so in possession, or his guardian, if residing within said county, 15 days notice of the time and place of holding such inquiry; or if they are not residing within the county, such notice as by said court shall be thought reasonable,) into the full value of the trees planted; which value, when so ascertained, shall be signed by the sheriff and jurors, and returned into chancery the first day of the next term; for which inquiry and return the sheriff shall receive 13s. 4d. And the chancellor shall within the said term, upon prayer or motion of the person entitled to the benefit of the inquiry, or of the person so in possession, by his counsel, upon proof of any fraud or corruption in the said sheriff or jurors in holding the said inquiry, grant a new inquiry to be held within the same time, in the same manner, and at the same charges as the former inquiry: But if no complaint shall be made, or if such complaint shall be disallowed, or if another inquiry shall be so held, and certified into chancery, the person entitled to the benefit of the inquiry shall give notice to the person so in possession, 15 days before he shall move for a decree for a moiety of the value of the trees so certified, and the chancellor, &c., shall on such motion decree to the said executor, &c., one moiety of the value so returned; which decree, when inrolled, shall from such inrolment charge the estate so descended, as a judgment does an estate in feesimple, and shall bear interest from the time of such inrolment; for which inrolment, and a copy thereof, (which Copy shall be evidence in any case concerning said moiety) 2s. 6d. shall be paid: And the said moiety so decreed, shall be assets in the hands of the said executor, &c., to be applied as the other personal assets of the said tenant for life, &c. Provided (s. 2.) that if the person in possession of the estate by virtue of such remainder, shall may give moiety choose to give the moiety of the trees to the executor, Remainder-man in kind. &c., in s. 3. &c., in kind, then the said executor, &c., shall be obliged to accept said moiety, and shall have free ingress, egress, and regress, for a reasonable time, to cut and carry away said trees. But by s. 3. if any person in possession of any estate by virtue of such remainder shall cut or carry Penalty for culaway, or suffer to be cut or carried away, any trees so ling before value planted, between the death of such tenant for life, &c., and such inquiry held, then the said executor, &c., shall be entitled to, and shall have a decree for, the full value of the trees so cut, &c. ascertained. renewable for 5 Geo. 3. c. 17. s. 2. The 5 Geo. 3. c. 17. Ir. further enacts, that from the Lessees for lives 1st September, 1766, tenants for lives renewable for ever, ever entitled to paying the rents and performing the other covenants in trees planted. their leases, shall not be impeachable of waste in timber s. 1. Ir. trees or woods which they shall hereafter plant, any covenant in leases or settlements heretofore made, law, or usage to the contrary notwithstanding, And by s. 2, from the time any tenant for life or lives, by settlement, Tenant for life dower, curtesy, jointure, lease, or any office, civil, mi- entitled to osiers, &c, planted. litary, or ecclesiastical, impeachable of waste, [or any tenant for years exceeding 12 years unexpired] shall plant sally, osier, or willows, the sole property of such shall, during the continuance of the term, vest in the tenant, and he may cut and sell the same; and if such tenant shall plant any timber trees of oak, ash, elm, fir, and to botes, pine, walnut, chesnut, horse chesnut, quicken or wild ber trees during ash, alder, poplar, or other timber trees, such tenant, during the term, shall be entitled to house-bote, ploughbote, cart-bote and car-bote of such trees; and at the expiration of the term, or where such trees shall have at- and to trees tained maturity, shall be entitled to said trees, or the after, &c. value of them: Provided (s. 3.) that each person so s. 3. planting shall, within 6 months after such planting, lodge with the clerk of the peace of the county where such Trees to le plantation is made, a certificate under the hand of the tenant, containing the number and kind of the trees planted, their height, and year's growth at the time of planting, and a clear description of the places and manner wherein they shall be planted; which certificate shall be kept on a separate file amongst the records of the VOL. I. 2 G county, &c., out of tim term. registered. |