SYSTEMS OF LAND VAI.UATION IN THE UNIfED KINGDOM 87 



" Expected to realise " introduces the science of valuation. 



The hypothetical " willing seller " must be willing to take open market- 

 competition price. He is not to be made willing to sell by tempting him 

 with an extravagant price ; nor can he hold out for a " pretium affectionis " 

 on the ground that he is not desirous of seUing ; nor can he " blackmail *' 

 a purchaser who, he knows, has a special necessity for the property. 



The value is not necessarily the amount an owner can get in fact and in 

 practice by using all the " levers " at his command or by holding up the 

 monopoly of land against an individual, but the amount which he would 

 get on the hypotheses laid down. Everyone who has the money and will 

 to buy is asumed to be put into rivalry with each other and these intending 

 buyers are assumed to know that the seller is willing to sell in a market so 

 formed, and at a price obtained in such a market. The seller may in fact 

 happen to be placed in a position much more advantageous than the one 

 just described, but if so he must be assumed to descend from that posi- 

 tion and submit himself to the open market. 



" In its then condition " are words that do not prevent the potentia- 

 lities of the property from being included in the value, but the cost of con- 

 verting the property from " its then condition " to the ameliorated condi- 

 tion must be regarded. 



Having concluded the attempt to explam the general provisions of the 

 Finance Act as regards the Original Valuation it will be convenient to deal 

 with those provisions affecting " copyhold " lands, and to the' special 

 consideration shown to agricultural lands and woodlands. 



§ 3. Copyhold lands. 



Copyhold lands are lands which the copyholder-owner holds by Copy 

 of Court Roll from the lord of the manor in contradistinction to fee simple 

 or freehold lands where the owners are absolute owners of the complete 

 interest in the land. 



\\'lien a copyholder wishes to sell his land he must first surrender it to 

 the lord of the manor and pay fines and fees, whereupon the lord enters the 

 purchasing copyholder on the rolls of the manor in place of the selling copy- 

 bolder. In some manors these fines are very heavy and in others nominal 

 varying according to the custom of the manor. Fines and fees are also 

 sometimes payable to the lord upon the death of the successive copyholders. 



The Act provides that Gross Value and Full Site Value of copyhold lands 

 shall be on a basis similar to the general basis, namely as fee simple or free- 

 hold lands, but Total Value and Site Value are to be ascertained as if 

 the land were freehold land, subject to a deduction of such an amount as 

 is proved to be equal to the amount which it would cost to enfranchise 

 the land. 



Under the Copyholds Acts any copyholder can insist upon enfranchis- 

 ing his copyhold land and converting it into freehold by pajdng a sum to 

 the lord of the manor. The sum is computed by capitalising the lord's 



