106 ON SOME ANCIENT BURTON MANUSCRIPTS. 
paraphrased thus—‘‘In the game of the law, he who has the 
possession has only to gain one more trick in order to win the 
game.” 
I can only very incidentally touch upon the-conveyance by 
“release.”’ A “ release’? was the proper mode of conveyance of 
an ulterior interest. Thus, suppose a person entitled to an estate 
for life, of course he would be in possession of the property—z.e., 
livery of seisin would have been made to him, and, of course, 
there must be someone entitled to the property after his death— 
technically called, entitled in remainder. Suppose the remainder 
man wished to convey his interest to tenant for life, he would, 
therefore “release ” his interest to the life tenant by deed, and, of 
course, it follows that no livery of seisin would be necessary, nor 
any reservation of rent-service, nor any warranty of title. 
The foregoing are what I consider the chief points connected 
with these ancient documents. But there are several points 
of importance, and many of interest, which I must leave un- 
touched. Such are, the estate tail, such as is created by the deed 
of 1310 (this is the only one of these deeds which creates an 
estate tail), the livery of seisin in law, the livery by deed, the 
burgage tenure, and others. Nor can this paper be considered 
anything like a full or exhaustive account of the subjects of which it 
treats, for a full explanation of the different subjects would fill a 
small volume. 
Besides the deeds of 1310 and 1369 already commented on, 
there are ten other deeds: one of 1340, one of 1342, two of 1351, 
and one of each of the following years :—1378, 1394, 1398, 1479, 
1497, and 1512. 
In conclusion, I propose now to put before you briefly the chief 
local points of interest connected with these documents. 
Having gone through the deed of 1310, I will only now point 
out one fact that seems to be of local interest—namely, that one 
of the witnesses to the deed is John of Rolleston, thus showing that 
Rolleston can claim to be at least 600 years old. 
The deed of 1340 is a feoffment by which Richard Groucocks 
of Stretton grants to Richard of Ilum some land near a place called 
