Book II. THE ftatute of diftributions exprefsly excepts and referves the custom of the city of London, of the province of York, and of all other places having peculiar customs of distributing inteftates' effects. So that, though in those places the ftraint of devifing is removed by the ftatutes formerly mentioned, their antient cuftoms remain in full force, with refpect to the eftates of inteftates. I fhall therefore conclude this chapter, and with it the prefent book, with a few remarks on thofe cuftoms. In the first place we may observe, that in the city of London, and province of York f, as well as in the kingdom of Scotland, and probably also in Wales, (concerning which there is little to be gathered, but from the statute 7 & 8 W. III. c. 38.) the effects of the inteftate, after payment of his debts, are in general divided according to the antient univerfal doctrine of the pars rationabilis. If the deceased leaves a widow and children, his fubftance (deducting for the widow's apparel and the furniture of her bed-chamber, which in London is called the widow's chamber) is divided into three parts; one of which belongs to the widow, another to the children, and the third to the adminiftrator: if only a widow, or only children, they fhall respectively, in either cafe, take one moiety, and the adminiftrator the other; if neither widow nor child, the adminiftrator fhall have the whole. And this portion, or dead man's part, the administrator was wont to apply to his own ufek, till the ftatute 1 Jac. II. e. 17. declared that the fame fhould be fubject to the ftatute of diftribution. So that if a man dies worth 1800l. personal estate, leaving a widow and two children, this eftate fhall be divided into eighteen parts; whereof the widow fhall have eight, fix by the custom and two by the ftatute; and each of the children five, three by the custom and two by the ftatute: if he leaves a widow and one child, the fhall ftill have eight parts, as before; and the child shall have ten, fix by the custom and four by the ftatute: if d page 493. e Lord. Raym. 1329. f 2 Burn. eccl. law. 746. Ibid. 782. h1 P. Wms. 341. Salk. 246. 1 2 Show. 175. k2 Freem. 85. 1 Vern. 133 he leaves a widow and no child, the widow fhall have three fourths of the whole, two by the custom and one by the ftatute; and the remaining fourth fhall go by the statute to the next of kin. It is alfo to be obferved, that if the wife be provided for by a jointure before marriage, in bar of her customary part, it puts her in a state of non-entity, with regard to the custom only'; but she shall be entitled to her share of the dead man's part under the ftatute of distributions, unless barred by special agreement". And if any of the children are advanced by the father in his lifetime with any fum of money (not amounting to their full proportionable part) they fhall bring that portion into hotchpot with the reft of the brothers and fifters, but not with the widow, before they are entitled to any benefit under the custom":"but, if they are fully advanced, the custom entitles them to no further dividend o. THUS far in the main the customs of London and of York agree: but, befides certain other lefs material variations, there are two principal points in which they confiderably differ. One is, that in London the share of the children (or orphanage part) is not fully vested in them till the age of twenty-one, before which they cannot dispose of it by teftament: and, if they die under that age, whether fole or married, their share shall survive to the other children; but after the age of twenty-one, it is free from any orphanage cuftom, and in cafe of inteftacy, fhall fall under the ftatute of diftributions 9. The other, that in the province of York, the heir at common law, who inherits any land either in fee or in tail, is excluded from any filial portion or reasonable part. But, notwithstanding thefe provincial variations, the customs appear to be fubftantially one and the fame. And, as a fimilar policy formerly prevailed in every part of the island, we may fairly conclude the whole to be of British original; or, if derived from the Roman law of fucceffions, 12 Vern. 665. 3 P. Wms. 16. m 1 Vern. 15. 2 Chanc. Rep. 252. 2 Freem. 279. 1 Equ. Caf. abr. 155. 2 P. Wms. 526. VOL. II. Sf 2 P. Wms. 527. 2 Burn. 754. to to have been drawn from that fountain much earlier than the time of Juftinian, from whofe conftitutions in many points (particularly in the advantages given to the widow) it very confiderably differs: though it is not improbable that the refemblances which yet remain may be owing to the Roman ufages; introduced in the time of Claudius Caefar, who established a colony in Britain to instruct the natives in legal knowlege'; inculcated and diffused by Papinian, who prefided at York as praefectus praetorio under the emperor Se verus and Caracalla ; and continued by his fucceffors till the final departure of the Romans in the beginning of the fifth century after Christ. Tacit. Annal. l. 12. c. 32. ↑ Selden, in Fletam. cap. 4. § 3. THE END OF THE SECOND BOOK. APPENDIX. No. I. Vetus Carta FEOFFAMENTI. dum. CITAT prefentes et futuri, quod ego Willielmus, Premifes. filius Willielmi de Segenho, dedi, conceffi, et hac prefenti carta mea confirmavi, Johanni quondam filio Johannis de Saleford, pro quadam fumma pecunie quam michi dedit pre manibus, unam acram terre mee arabilis, jacentem in campo de Saleford, juxta terram quondam Richardi de la Mere: Habendam et Tenendam totam predictam acram Habendum. terre, cum omnibus ejus pertinentiis, prefato Johanni, et here- and Tenendibus fuis, et fuis affignatis, de capitalibus dominis feodi: Beddendo et faciendo annuatim eifdem dominis capitalibus fer- Reddendum, vitia inde debita et confueta: Et ego predictus Willielmus, et Warranty. heredes mei, et mei affignati, totam predictam acram terre, cum omnibus fuis pertinentiis, predicto Johanni de Saleford, et heredibus fuis, et fuis affignatis, contra omnes gentes warrantizabimus in perpetuum. In cujus rei teftimonium huic prefenti Conclufion. carte figillum meum appofui: iis teftibus, Nigello de Saleford, Johanne de Seybroke, Radulpho clerico de Saleford, Johanne molendario de eadem villa, & aliis. Data apud Saleford die Veneris proximo ante feftum fancte Margarete virginis, anno regni regis EDWARDI filii regis EDWARDI fexto. (L. S.) Memorandum, quod die et anno infrafcriptis plena et pacifica feilina acre infrafpecificate, cum pertinentiis, data et deliberata fuit per infranominatum Willielmum de Segenho infranominato Johanni de Saleford, in propriis perfonis fuis, fecundum tenorem et effectum carte infrafcripte, in prefentia Nigelli de Saleford, Johannis de Seybroke, et aliorum. Livery of feifin en dorfed. No. II. Premifes. Parties. tion. fale. Parcels. No. II. A modern Conveyance by LEASE and RELEASE. §. 1. LEASE, or BARGAIN and SALE, for a year. I HJS Indenture, made the third day of September, in the twenty-first year of the reign of our fovereign lord GEORGE the fecond by the grace of God king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, and fo forth, and in the year of our Lord, one thousand, seven hundred, and fortyfeven, between Abraham Barker of Dale Hall in the county of Norfolk, efquire, and Cecilia his wife, of the one part, and David Edwards of Lincoln's Inn in the county of Middlesex, esquire, and Francis Golding of the city of Norwich, clerk, of the other part, witneffeth; that the faid Abraham Barker and Cecilia his Confidera- wife, in confideration of five fhillings of lawful money of Great Britain to them in hand paid by the faid David Edwards and Francis Golding at or before the enfealing and delivery of thefe prefents, (the receipt whereof is hereby acknowleged,) and for other good caufes and confiderations them the faid Abraham Bargain and Barker and Cecilia his wife hereunto fpecially moving, habe bargained and fold, and by thefe prefents do, and each of them doth, bargain and fell, unto the faid David Edwards and Francis Golding, their executors, adminiftrators, and affigns, 31 that the capital meffuage, called Dale Hall in the parith of Dale in the faid county of Norfolk, wherein the faid Abraham Barker and Cecilia his wife now dwell, and all thofe their lands in the faid parish of Dale called or known by the name of Wilson's farm, containing by eftimation five hundred and forty acres, be the fame more or lefs, together with all and fingular houses, dovehoufes, barns, buildings, ftables, yards, gardens, orchards, lands, tenements, meadows, paftures, feedings, commons, woods, underwoods, ways, waters, watercourfes, fifhings, privileges, profits, eafements, commodities, advantages, emoluments, heredi. taments, and appurtenances whatfoever to the faid capital meffuage and farm belonging or appertaining, or with the fame ufed or enjoyed, or accepted, reputed, taken or known, as part, parcel, or member thereof, or as belonging to the fame or any part thereof; and the reverfion and reverfions, remainder and remainders, yearly and other rents, iffues, and profits thereof, Habendum. and of every part and parcel thereof: To have and to hold the faid capital meffuage, lands, tenements, hereditaments, and all and fingular other the premifes herein-before mentioned or intended to be bargained and fold, and every part and parcel thereof, with their and every of their rights, members, and appur tenances, |