ON SOME ANCIENT BURTON MANUSCRIPTS. 103 
was passed, which forms a kind of landmark in the history of 
English conveyancing law. This Act is known as the Statute 
**Quia emptores.” The statute enacts that in future the feoffee 
of lands should hold them of the chief lord of the fee by the same 
rent and services as his feoffor held them before. This statute, 
therefore, put an end to the practice of sub-infeudation. I have it 
here, and will read it to you. So that after the passing of the 
Act, D, for instance, would no longer be able to become 
overlord to L; but if he disposes of his land to L he must make 
A the overlord of L. Now, you will perhaps recollect that in the 
deed of 1310 Roger le Rous grants to Maurice of Swynesco, 
* habendum et tenendum de me et heredibus meis faciendo inde 
capitalibus dominis illius feodi servicia debita et consueta.” That 
is, ‘‘ to have and to hold of me and my heirs, making therefor to 
the chief lords of that fee the services due and accustomed.” I 
can only suppose that the conveyancer here had not quite got 
used to the new state of things brought about by the statute known 
as ‘‘Quia emptores.” But it should be noticed that, although he 
makes the land to be held of the feoffor and his heirs, neverthe- 
less he reserves the rent to the chief lord. In all the other deeds 
the feoffee is made to hold from the ‘‘chief lords of the fee,” to 
whom also the rent is reserved. 
It may, perhaps, interest you to know that this process of sub- 
infeudation was the way in which ‘‘ manors” were created. The 
owner of a manor, or lord of a manor, as he is called, is, of 
course, what used to be called a ‘‘ mesne lord.”’ 
Lastly, it was not until the reign of Charles the Second, in the 
year 1660, that the tenure by knigit-service was abolished. In 
that year was passed the statute which turned all tenancies of 
knight-service into tenancies of free and common socage, thus 
commuting what had then become an unnecessary and useless 
rent-service into an annual money payment. F 
I hope I have succeeded in making myself intelligible about 
_ these old tenures. I will now pass on to the subject of “ feoff- 
ment,” or the act of enfeoffing a person with an estate ; in other 
words, granting him a freehold estate in land. You will most of 
