About Manorial Lordships
Lord of the Manor Title
A lordship of the manor is an English feudal title that once referred to the landholder of an estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) and seignory, the right to grant or draw benefit from the estate. The title continues in modern England and Wales as a legally recognised property that can be held independently of its historical rights. It may belong entirely to one person or be a shared moiety.
Historically, a lord of the manor could either be a tenant-in-chief if he held a capital manor directly from the Crown or a mesne lord if he was the vassal of another lord. The origins of the lordship of manors arose in the Anglo-Saxon system of manorialism. Following the Norman conquest, land at the manorial level was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 (the Normans' registry in Sicily was called, in Latin, the Catalogus Baronum, compiled a few years later). The title cannot nowadays be subdivided. This has been prohibited since 1290 by the statute of Quia Emptores that prevents tenants from alienating their lands to others by subinfeudation, instead requiring all tenants wishing to alienate their land to do so by substitution.
Lord Denning, in Corpus Christi College Oxford v Gloucestershire County Council [1983] QB 360, described the manor thus:
In medieval times the manor was the nucleus of English rural life. It was an administrative unit of an extensive area of land. The whole of it was owned originally by the lord of the manor. He lived in the big house called the manor house. Attached to it were many acres of grassland and woodlands called the park. These were the "demesne lands" which were for the personal use of the lord of the manor. Dotted all round were the enclosed homes and land occupied by the "tenants of the manor".
The holder of a lordship of the manor can be styled as Charles S, Lord/Lady of the Manor of [Placename], or shortened to Lord or Lady of [Placename]. Spouses can share this style.
It is debated whether manorial lordships are classed as noble titles. They are a semi-extinct form of hereditary landed title that grants the holder the rank of Esquire by prescription. Contemporary heralds and students of nobiliary consider them high gentry or lower, non-peerage nobility.
In this sense, Lordship is a synonym for ownership, although this ownership involved a historic legal jurisdiction in the form of the court baron. The journal Justice of the Peace & Local Government Law advises that the position is unclear as to whether a lordship of a manor is a title of honour or dignity, as this is yet to be tested by the courts. Technically, lords of manors are barons or freemen; however, they do not use the term as a title. Unlike titled barons, they had no right to sit in the House of Lords, which was the case for all noble peers until the House of Lords Act 1999.
John Selden, in his esteemed work Titles of Honour (1672) writes, "The word Baro (Latin for Baron) hath been also so much communicated, that not only all Lords of Manors have been from ancient time, and are at this day sometimes called Barons (as in the style of their Court Barons, which is Curia Baronis, &c. And I have read hors de son Barony in a barr to an Avowry for hors de son fee) But also the Judges of the Exchequer have it from ancient time fixed on them".
The style 'Lord of the Manor of X' or 'Lord of X' is, in a sense, more of a description than a title, somewhat like the term 'Laird' in Scotland. King's College, Cambridge, has argued that the term 'indicated wealth and privilege, and it carried rights and responsibilities.'
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Tenancy, Sub-tenancy, & Manorial Courts
Tenancy
In England in the Middle Ages, land was held on behalf of the English monarch or ruler by a powerful local supporter, who gave protection in return. The people who had sworn homage to the lord were known as vassals. Vassals were nobles who served loyalty to the king in return for being given the use of land. After the Norman conquest of England, however, all land in England was owned by the monarch, who then granted the use of it through a transaction known as enfeoffment to earls, barons, and others in return for military service. The person who held feudal land directly from the king was known as a tenant-in-chief.
Sub-tenancy
Military service was based upon units of ten knights. An important tenant-in-chief might be expected to provide all ten knights, and lesser tenants-in-chief, half of one. Some tenants-in-chief 'sub-infeuded', granted some land to a sub-tenant. Further sub-infeudation could occur down to the level of a lord of a single manor, which might represent only a fraction of a knight's fee.
A mesne lord was the level of lord in the middle holding several manors, between the lords of a manor and the superior lord. The sub-tenant might have to provide knight-service, or finance just a portion of it, or pay something purely nominal. Any further sub-infeudation was prohibited by the Statute of Quia Emptores in 1290. Knight-service was abolished by the Tenures Abolition Act 1660.
Manorial courts
Manors were defined as an area of land and became closely associated to the advowson of the church; often by default the advowson was appended to the rights of the Manor, sometimes separated into moieties. Many lords of the manor were known as squires, at a time when land ownership was the basis of power. While some inhabitants were serfs who were bound to the land, others were freeholders, often known as franklins, who were free from customary services. Periodically all the tenants met at a 'manorial court', with the lord of the manor (or squire), or a steward, as chairman. These courts, known as courts baron, dealt with the tenants' rights and duties, changes of occupancy, and disputes between tenants. Some manorial courts also had the status of a court leet, and so they elected constables and other officials and were effectively magistrates' courts for minor offences.
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Later History to Present Day
Later history
The royal courts protected the tenure of the freeholders. After the Black Death, labour was in demand, and so it became difficult for the lords of manors to impose duties on serfs. However, their customary tenure continued, and in the 16th century, the royal courts also began to protect these customary tenants, who became known as copyholders. The name arises because the tenant was given a copy of the court's record of the fact as a title deed.
During the 19th century, traditional manor courts were phased out. This was large because, by the mid-17th century, large English cities had leading residents such as John Harrison (died 1656) of Leeds, who saw the possession of the manor by only one resident as "giving him too great a superiority over his fellow townsmen and exposing him to considerable odium". Thus, the Manor of Leeds was divided between several people (shares). This situation could create legal problems. In January 1872, as a group, the "lords of the manor of Leeds" applied to the Law Courts to ascertain if they could "exercise acts of ownership" over land when manorial rights were being sold to more giant city corporations.
In 1854, the lords of the manor of Leeds had "sold" these acts of ownership to the "corporation of Leeds," which would become the City of Leeds.
By 1925, copyhold tenure had formally ended with enacting the Law of Property Acts, Law of Property Act 1922, and Law of Property (Amendment) Act 1924, converting copyhold to fee simple. Although the copyhold was abolished, the title of Lord of the Manor remains, and certain rights attached to it will also stay if they are registered under the Land Registration Act 2002. This Act ended manorial incidents unprotected by registration at the Land Registry after October 2013. The Land Registration Act 2002 does not affect the existence of unregistered lordships after October 2013, only the rights that would have previously been attached to the same.
During the latter part of the 20th century, many of these titles were sold to wealthy individuals seeking distinction. However, certain purchasers, such as Mark Roberts, controversially exploited the right to claim unregistered land. A manorial title (i.e., Lord of the Manor) is not a title of nobility, as in a peerage title.
TODAY
Feudal lordships of the manor exist today in English property law, being legal titles historically dating back to the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Being incorporated into property law (physical or non-physical), they can be bought and sold as historic artefacts. As stated below, the title can be separated from the physical property just as any other right can. Rights like lordship, mineral and sporting can all be separate from the physical property. The title since 1290 cannot be sub-divided. Land, sporting rights, and mineral rights can be separated. Property lawyers usually handle such transactions.
There are three elements to a manor (collectively called an honour):
the lordship or dignity – the title granted by the manor,
the manorial – the manor and its land,
the seignory – the rights granted to the holder of the manor.
These three elements may exist separately or be combined. The first element is the title, which may be held in moieties and not subdivided. This is prohibited by the statute of Quia Emptores preventing subinfeudation whereas the second and third elements can be subdivided. Although manorial lordship titles today no longer have rights attached to them, historically, the lordship title itself had the power to collect fealty (i.e., services) and taxes.
The Historical Manuscripts Commission maintains two Manorial Document Registers that cover southern England. One register is arranged under parishes, and the other is arranged under manors and shows the last-known whereabouts of the manorial records; the records are often minimal. The National Archives at Kew, London, and county record offices maintain many documents that mention manors or manorial rights; in some cases, manorial court rolls have survived; such documents are now protected by law.
Land claims were raised in the UK Parliament in 2004 and debated, with a reply from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs acknowledging the 'need for reform of the remnants of feudal and manorial law'. A case was highlighted in Peterstone Wentloog, Wales, where villagers were being charged excessive fees to cross manorial land to access their homes.
In 2007, a caution against first registration caused houses to stop selling in Alstonefield after Mark Roberts, a businessman from Wales also previously involved in the Peterstone Wentloog case, registered a caution against first registration for 25,000 acres (100 km2) after purchasing the lordship of the manor of Alstonefield for £10,000 in 1999. Judith Bray, a Buckingham University land law expert, spoke to BBC about the case and said, "The legal situation is very confusing because a piece of legislation in the 1920s separated manorial rights from the ownership of land".
In reports about the Alstonefield case, the BBC stated, "Scores of titles are bought and sold every year, some like the one Chris Eubank bought for fun, others seen as a business opportunity. It is entirely lawful, and there is no doubt the titles can be valuable. As well as rights to land like wastes and commons, they can also give the holder rights over land". The report says that the Law Commission in England and Wales was considering a project to abolish feudal land law but would not review manorial rights.
In many cases, the title of lord of the manor may not have any land or rights, and in such cases, the title is known as an 'incorporeal hereditament'. Before the Land Registration Act 2002, it was possible to volunteer to register lordship titles with the Land Registry; most did not seek to register. Dealings in previously registered Manors are subject to compulsory registration; however, lords of manors may opt to de-register their titles, and they will continue to exist unregistered. Manorial rights, such as mineral rights, ceased registerable after midnight on 12 October 2013.
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Manorial Records
Manorial Documents noted in the Manorial Documents Register include 'court rolls, surveys, maps, terriers, documents and books of every description relating to the boundaries, wastes, customs or courts of a manor' then, they are any documents the internal administration generated of a manor.
Of course, this leads to the question, 'What was a manor?' Traditionally, many people have defined the manor as a geographical unit of land. This definition, however, can be misleading. It is better to think of the manor as an administrative unit of a landed estate. It could vary from a few acres within a parish to many square miles within several parishes. In some cases, the bounds of a manor may have correlated with the boundaries of a village; sometimes, a single village may have been part of several manors; in other cases, a manor may have been a group of scattered lands and farmsteads interspersed with the lands of other manors. The important aspect, then, was the administration. Tenants paid rent and service to the lord of the manor; they had to abide by the customs of the manor, and the succession of their land was governed by the manor court, which often also acted as the local court of law for routine offenses. Manors were an important feature of local communities.
Britain's prominent landed families held vast amounts of property throughout the country. Naturally, some of this would have been copyhold or manorial land. In some cases, the head of the family would even have been lord or lady of the manor.
Because land ownership was not centrally registered, it was essential that owners could establish proof of their title to property. Manorial records were an important element in that proof. For that reason, they can often be found within family and estate archives.