Feudalism – Feudal/Manorial Titles (Lordships/Baronies of the Manor)

noun
1. The dominant social system in medieval Europe, in which the nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants (villeins or serfs) were obliged to live on their lord’s land and give him homage, labour, and a share of the produce, notionally in exchange for military protection.

You will note that the definition of ‘’feudalism’’ refers to ‘’nobility’’ class, yet it is often said that feudal/manorial Titles are not regarded as ‘nobility’.

From Wikipedia :
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristics associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles or simply formal functions
(e.g., precedence), and vary by country and by era. Membership in the nobility, including rights and responsibilities, is typically hereditary and patrilineal.

Membership in the nobility has historically been granted by a monarch or government, and acquisition of sufficient power, wealth, ownerships, or royal favour has occasionally enabled commoners to ascend into the nobility. [1]

NOBLEMAN

noun
1. a man who belongs by rank, title, or birth to the aristocracy; a peer.

ARISTOCRACY

noun
1. the highest class in certain societies, typically comprising people of noble birth
holding hereditary titles and offices.
“members of the aristocracy”
Similar:
the nobility
the peerage
the gentry
the upper class
the ruling class
the privileged class
the elite
high society
the establishment
the patriciate
the haut monde
the beau monde
aristocrats
lords
ladies
peers
peers of the realm
nobles
noblemen
noblewomen
titled men/women/people
patricians
the upper crust
the jet set
the beautiful people
the crème de la crème
the top drawer
aristos
nobs
toffs

Opposite:
the working class
the common people
the masses
a form of government in which power is held by the nobility.
a state in which governing power is held by the nobility.

plural noun: aristocracies

RULING CLASS

Nobility, Nobleman, Noblewoman, Aristocracy and Gentry are all categorised as one thing ‘RULING CLASS’ which by definition is Nobility a social class the aristocracy and ranked immediately below royalty.

ROYAL PROTOCOL

If a title is recognised by a Monarch then by ‘royal protocol’ it is deemed officially recognised as ‘’NOBLE STATUS’’. The late Queen Elizabth II recognised Manorial/Feudal Titles as one of her best friends was a Lady of the Manor, the queen referred to her as ‘’LADY BRABOURNE’’ (Brabourne Lees Manor), by the queen using said title establishes MANORIAL/FEUDAL TITLES AS ‘’NOBLE STATUS’’.

COURT OF NOBILITY RULING
The Court of Nobility (originally founded 1793) has ruled that any Title of ‘ruling class’ over common people is by definition ‘’NOBILITY CLASS’’. You are therefore eligible to join as a member.

BUYING A TITLE

Prior to the introduction of the ‘Law of Property Act 1925’ the only way to purchase a title was to buy a Manor House. In 1925 the title became separate from the land with the president court case in 1925 Beaumont vs Jeffreys. This resulted in the Law of Property Act 1925 being amended, allowing just the purchase of the title without the land. ‘Plots of land Titles’ are by the definition of the law ABSOLUTE RUBBISH, you are buying a plot of souvenir land with a deed poll name change, in other words it’s not a real title; IT’S FAKE.

Manorial court feudal law
By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Article History

Manorial court, in feudal law, court through which a lord exercised jurisdiction over his tenants. The manorial court was presided over by the steward or seneschal, and it was there that various officials—such as the reeve, who acted as general overseer, and the hayward, who watched over the crops and brought offenders to court—were appointed. Tenants were
punished and often forced to pay fines for their offenses; the manorial court thus provided the lord with a convenient source of income. Through the court, tenants also registered land transactions between themselves—when this was permitted—and surrendered or took up holdings under the lord. Manorial courts declined in the 17th century and were generally obsolete in the 18th century.

Court Baron (Higher than a Manorial court)
medieval court
Alternate titles: Curia baronis
By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Article History
Related Topics:

Court baron, Latin Curia Baronis, (“Baron’s court”), medieval English manorial court, or halimoot, that any lord could hold for and among his tenants. By the 13th century the steward of the manor, a lawyer, usually presided; originally, the suitors of the court (i.e., the doomsmen), who were bound to attend, acted as judges, but the growing use of juries rendered their function obsolete. The 17th-century jurist Sir Edward
Coke distinguished between two forms of the manorial court: the court baron for free tenants and the customary court for those who were not free. In the 12th and 13th centuries, however, there was no distinction between the two. The manorial court usually met every three weeks
and considered personal actions between its suitors. The lord had considerable power over his bound tenants, but he had only civil jurisdiction over his free tenants, and that was increasingly diminished by the growing use of royal writs. Much of the business of the court
was to administer the “custom of the manor” and to admit copyhold tenants; the proceedings were recorded on the court roll.

The right of pits and gallows

A privilege of inflicting capital punishment for theft, by which. a woman could be drowned in a pit or a man hanged on a gallows.

Manorial Rights (Rights of Manor)

Manorial Rights are rights which relate to freehold land which used to be held as ‘copyhold’.

What is meant by the term copyhold?
In the middle ages, the lordship of the manor owned huge acres of land which overall was considered freehold (free of any obligation to the crown) land. Smaller landholdings within the manor were referred to as copyhold tenure, therefore the land was owned by the lord or lady of the manor and the individuals were just tenants.

Copyhold tenure was abolished in England and Wales by the Law of Real Property Act in 1925 that required copyhold tenure to be converted into freehold on the payment of compensation to the lord of the manor (enfranchisement).

The Lord of the Manor retained rights over the land which was converted to freehold. These were called Manorial Rights.

Manorial rights commonly include such things as sporting rights (such as shooting and fishing), the right to hold markets or fairs, grazing rights, chancel repair rights and mineral rights. These rights must be registered with the Land registry with the introduction of the LAND REGISTRATION ACT 2002.

LAND REGISTRATION ACT 2002
Came into effect 2013
In short any Manorial Rights of a Title must be registered with the Land registry before October 2013 or will be lost for ever.

Information provided by HM Land Registry
Please note that HM Land Registry’s practice guides are aimed primarily at solicitors and other conveyancers. They often deal with complex matters and use legal terms.

1. Introduction
Manors are of ancient origin dating from before Norman times. The extent of the manor was usually determined by the original grant from the Crown or superior lord. A manor was self-contained with its own customs and rights within its defined area. There are three separate elements of manors that can affect HM Land Registry:

• Lordship of the manor: whoever owns the lordship of the manor is entitled to refer to themselves as lord of that manor, for example, Lord of the manor of Keswick
• manorial land: because a manor was a defined area it included the physical land within that area. Such land could either be freehold or leasehold
• manorial rights: rights which were part and parcel of the manorial title and which were usually kept by the lord on disposal of parts of the manorial land, for example, the right to hunt, shoot or fish

These elements may exist separately or be combined. The lordship title cannot be subdivided, but the manorial land and the manorial rights can be. Confusion can be caused, as ‘manor’ can refer to either the lordship and/or the manorial land.

2. Lordship titles

2.1 Records held by HM Land Registry
The lordship of the manor is simply the title by which the lord of the manor is known. In many cases the title may no longer have any land or rights attached to it. Because of its origin and lack of physical substance, it is known as an ‘incorporeal hereditament’. Incorporeal hereditament means ‘an interest having no physical existence’.

Before 13 October 2003, being the commencement of the Land Registration Act 2002, it was possible to register these lordship titles. However, the registration was always voluntary and most did not seek to register the lordship title. We still keep an index of registered lordship
titles. Practice guide 13: index of relating franchises and manors – official searches explains the procedures for searching the index.

Each registered title has an individual register. This will contain the name and address of the current registered proprietor, whom you may contact with any enquiries about the manorial interests (if any) that affect the land in question. Because of their nature, lordship titles do not have title plans and we do not hold any definitive record of the extent of the original manor.

2.2 Registration under the Land Registration Act 2002
Since 13 October 2003, it is no longer possible to make an application for the first registration of a lordship title. However, dealings with existing registered titles are subject to compulsory registration. This includes the grant of a lease (of any term) out of a registered lordship title.

2.3 De-registration
The registered proprietor of a lordship title can apply for the title to be de-registered (section 119 of the Land Registration Act 2002). In this event the lordship title will continue to exist off the register, but (like the majority of these titles) we will hold no record of it.

The registered proprietor, or their legal representative, should apply using a form AP1.

Complete the following panels of the form.
1. Local authority area serving the property
2. Title number of the lordship title
3. The lordship of a single manor cannot be divided. So, unless the title comprises more than one manor, place ‘X’ against the first statement
4. Complete the nature of the application as ‘de-registration of manor’. No fee is required
5. Enter the name of the person applying to de-register the manor
6. Enter the name and address of the person submitting the application.
7. Only complete this panel if you want us to tell someone else when the application is completed
8. The applicant or their legal representative must sign

Send your application to the correct HM Land Registry office.

3. Manorial land
Manorial land is the land that was originally part of the landholdings of the lordship of the manor and has not been transferred separately from the lordship title. Manorial land can be extensive, or it can be a collection of scattered small pieces of land, which may cover a large area.

Manorial land is subject to compulsory registration in the same way as any other physical (corporeal) land.

Use a form SIM to find out if land is registered or subject to a pending application for first registration – see practice guide 10: index map – official search.

If you do not require indemnity provisions in respect of an index map search you could consider using MapSearch. This service is available free of charge for Business e-services customers who have portal access and provides immediate search results.

4. Manorial rights

4.1 Lordship title may not have the benefit of rights
A lord of the manor may exercise certain rights usually known as ‘manorial incidents’. Such
rights could no longer be created after 1925. The main manorial rights can be summarised as:

• the lord’s sporting rights
• the lord’s or tenant’s rights to mines or minerals
• the lord’s right to hold fairs and markets
• the lord’s or tenant’s liability for the construction, maintenance and repair of dykes, ditches, canals and other works

These are just examples and it does not necessarily follow that such rights are legally exercisable. Registered lordship titles usually make no reference to any manorial incidents in the register. It may be that the benefit of the rights was not included in an earlier sale of the lordship title.

4.2 Land subject to rights
When registering a property for the first time, we may make an entry in the property register if it appears that the land may still be subject to manorial rights. This may be the case if the title deeds reveal that the land was former copyhold (ie held of the lord of the manor) and the rights were preserved on enfranchisement (when the title was converted to freehold).

4.3 Effect of Land Registration Act 2002
Under the Land Registration Act 2002 manorial rights are categorised as overriding interests, so a landowner takes subject to them even if they are not mentioned in their register.

However, under section 117 of the Land Registration Act 2002 these rights will lose their overriding status after 12 October 2013 (10 years after the Act came into force). Where any manorial rights have not been protected by notice or caution against first registration before 13 October 2013, they do not automatically cease to exist on that date. The position is set out
in The land was registered after 12 October 2013 and The land was registered before 13 October 2013.

Applicants have a duty to disclose manorial rights on all first registrations or dispositions of registered land. For further information see practice guide 15: overriding interests and their disclosure.

Somebody with the benefit can apply for the existence of manorial incidents to be noted in the register of a title that is subject to them. The applicant must satisfy us of the existence of the rights. No fee is payable. For further information, see practice guide 66: overriding interests losing automatic protection in 2013, which deals with third party interests.

If the land subject to the rights is not registered, they can be protected without fee by caution against first registration. See practice guide 3: cautions against first registration.

4.3.1 The land was registered after 12 October 2013
Prior to first registration the legal owner of the land will be bound by any manorial rights because they are legal interests. On first registration they will hold the estate free of manorial rights unless they are protected by notice at the time of first registration.

4.3.2 The land was registered before 13 October 2013
Even if the interest has not been protected by the entry of a notice in the register the land will remain subject to it. But, unless such a notice is entered, a person who acquires the registered estate for valuable consideration by way of registrable disposition after 12 October 2013 will
take free from that interest (section 29 of the Land Registration Act 2002). Until such a disposition is registered the person having the benefit of the interest may apply to protect it by entry of notice.

5. Sources of further information
The following sources may assist in researching a manor.
 The National Archives holds official records including tithe apportionments and maps and valuations made by the 1909-10 Finance Act commissioners as well as the Manorial Documents Register.

The National Archives,
Ruskin Avenue,
Kew,
Richmond,
Surrey TW9 4DU

• county record offices often hold enclosure awards and maps, court rolls, surveys and other manorial records
• Diocesan boards of finance hold ecclesiastical records, including tithe apportionments and maps
• highway authorities (county councils where they exist, otherwise district and borough councils) hold records of highways and highway boundaries
• commons registration authorities hold registers of commons and town and village greens, with accompanying maps
• many parish records contain relevant information