17 



1TXCES. 



FEOFKM I 



not required u drains, it 5* great WMte of bud to have any ditches, 

 ad a simple hedge planted on the surface of the soil U much to be 

 preferred. Of 1 1 fences, a lire hedge, which u carefully planted, and 

 kept properly cut and trimmed when it in grown up, u by far the 

 beat [HKIKIE.] 



When a fence is required within night of a dwelling, and it i* 

 desirable for it to be concealed, a deep ditch u sometime* dug, and a 

 fence placed in the bottom of it at such a depth u not to appear above 

 the level of the ground. This U called a not f nut. Sometime* a 

 wall U built againrt a perpendicular side of a ditch, and aome very 

 light fence u placed obliquely outward* near the top of it and level 

 with the ground. When it in desired to keep off sheep or cattle from 

 a lawn or pleuure-ground without obstructing the view of the park or 

 the fields, this " ha ha" fence is very useful. A variety of li'jht fences of 

 iron have been invented for the same purpose : some of these are fixed 

 and other* moveable ; some have upright pieces of cast-iron as poets let 

 into oak blocks sunk in the ground, and rods of wrought-iron passing 

 through holes in the uprights ; some have wire for the same purpose. 

 But the most common iron fence is composed of separate wrought-iron 

 hurdles which may be moved at pleasure, and are kept together by 

 screwed pins and nuts. They are merely stuck into the ground, for 

 which purpose they have the ends of the uprights sharpened and bent 

 so as to form a foot.' By having this bend alternately on the right and 

 on the left, they form a very firm basis when two hurdles are joined, 

 the left foot of the one being strengthened by the right foot of the 

 ut her. A very neat fence may be made at a small expense by using 

 as posts pieces of young larch-trees four or five inches in diameter, with 

 the bark on, and passing iron rods through holes bored in them at 

 certain distances from each other. A fence of this kind five feet high, 

 with five horizontal rods five-eighths of an inch in diameter, is an 

 excellent protection against cattle, and takes up nu ground. 



The greatest objection to the ditch and bank fence is that it takes 

 up so much room. If the ditch is three feet wide, the bank will be the 

 same. There is a foot along the ditch, and another along the bank, 

 where the plough cannot reach ; there ore therefore eight feet lost. If 

 the fields are squares of ten acres each, which is a convenient size, each 

 field will have 1320 feet of fence in length, taking up 10,560 square 

 feet of land, which is nearly a quarter of an acre. If to this be added 

 the outer fences against roads, woods, or commons, it will be found 

 that nearly one acre in twenty-five is taken up by banks and ditches. 

 It is therefore a great saving to have a simple hedge without any ditch, 

 wherever the land is well drained or has a porous subsoil. 



It is usual in England to plant trees in the hedge-rows ; and it is 

 owing to this practice that England presents such a rich garden-like 

 appearance, wherever there is a hill which enables one to see any extent 

 of country. But trees are a great detriment to the farmer ; and where 

 the land is highly manured, the trees draw off much of the rich juices. 

 The prudent tenant considers this in the rent ; and although the land- 

 lord may now and then sell some timber, he pays dear for it in general 

 by the annual deduction from his income on their account. Stone 

 walla have a dreary appearance to the eye, but they are excellent fences ; 

 they take up little ground, they draw nothing out of the soil, they 

 harbour no birds, and they are the beat shelter against cold winds in 

 spring. In an agricultural point of view, therefore, walls are to be 

 preferred, unless the soil be favourable to the growth of the white- 

 thorn or the holly ; for clipped hedges are kept up at a much smaller 

 expense than walls , and where there is no ditch, hedges take up as 

 little room. 



When hedges are preferred, whether with or without a bank and 

 ditch, they must be protected until they are of a certain age ; and for 

 this purpose there are particular kinds of fences. When there is a 

 bank and double ditch, and the hedge is planted on the top of the bank, 

 which makes by far the most efficient fence, there are usually two 

 fences, one on each side of the bank. These fences are made of 

 rough posts and rails mortised into the posts. The posts are a foot or 

 18 inches in the ground, and 2 feet 6 inches out. They are placed 

 in the side of the bank, inclined somewhat outwards, about 4 feet 

 6 inches asunder. The two rails are let into mortices in the alternate 

 posts, and nailed to the middle post, which is rather slighter. Thus a 

 very formidable fence is made, which those who follow the diversion of 

 hunting, and are not very well mounted, dread to encounter. If there 

 is only a single ditch, it is usual to plant the hedge in the side of the 

 bonk a little above the level of the ground. To protect the young 

 thorns from being cropped by the cattle, it is usual to make a dead 

 hedge of stake* with bushes and brambles interwoven on the top of the 

 bank : and if there is pasture land on the side where the ditch is, a 

 post and rail fence is put up along the edge of the ditch till the hedge 

 is grown sufficiently not to be injured by the cattle. When branches 

 of thorn* and bushes only are used without stakes, it is called a/oot 

 htdgt ; when the branches are interwoven, and the top of the hedge is 

 finished with rods wattled in, it is called a itaix and edd<> 

 Wherever neatness and durability are consulted, the stake and cd.ier 

 hedge it always preferred. 



Beside* these common fences, there are various others of a light or 

 temporary nature, which are chiefly used in gardens ami pleasure- 

 grounds, and also when sheep only ore to be kept out, or when a new 

 quick hedge along an orchard or garden has been planted. A cheap 

 and nest fence of this kind is made with stakes only planted in the 



ground, forming a series of St. Andrew's crosses : or with osier or 

 hazel rods worked between stakes like basket-work, either horizontally 

 and lightly or obliquely and closely. When the rod* are split, the 

 appearance U still neater and lighter. A variety of light iron fences 

 made of slender rods or wire have been invented to protect flower- 

 garden* or shrubberies from the depredations of hares and rabbits, and 

 nns differ according to the fancy and taste of individual*. 

 ,i. SYSTEM.] 



KKol'KMKNT (in law) is that mode of conveyance of land* or real 

 hereditaments in possession where the land psssns by force of 1. 

 deed, that is, actual delivery of a portion of the land, as a twig or a 

 turf ; or where the parties being on the land the feoffor expressly gives 

 it to the feoffee, 4c. ; or livery in law or within view, that is, whn 

 the parties being within sight of the land, the feoffor refers to 

 gives it to the feoffee. A fuoffment was the earliest mode of conveying 

 real hereditaments in possession known to the common law. A grant 

 [DEED ; GRANT] was the mode used when lands subject to an existing 

 estate of freehold, and when rents or other incorporeal hereditaments 

 incapable from their nature of being the subjects of livery, were trans- 

 fcrrcd. The term feofftneut is evidently of feudal origin, it latinised 

 form being feoffamentum, from feudare or infeudare, to infeoff, to give 

 a feud. The mode of conveyance is however of much higher ant 

 than the feudal system, the mode of transferring property by the 

 v of possession being common to all nations in nide ages. (Uilb. 

 Ten.' 386.) It prevailed amongst the Anglo-Saxons, who gave posses- 

 sion by the delivery of a twig or a turf, a mode still used in the ad- 

 mission of tenants of copyhold lauds. The form of an ancient feoffment 

 was singularly concise. There is a copy of one in the Appendix to the 

 2nd vol. of Blackstone's ' Commentaries,' No. 1. 



Feoffments are now little used. The statute 8 & 9 Viet. c. 106, gave 

 the last blow to a mode of conveyance already nearly obsolete. l'-y thi.- 

 Act corporeal hereditaments are made to lie in grant as well as in lirery. 

 Thus actual or symbolical livery of seisin is unnecessary. See Blackst. 

 ' Comm.' vol. ii. p. 811, Mr. Kerr's Ed. 



The essential part of this mode of conveyance is the delivery of 

 possession, or, as it is technically called, livery of seisin. In former 

 times land was frequently conveyed without any deed or writing, by 

 simple delivery. Subsequently it became the custom to have a written 

 instrument called the charter or deed of feoffment [C'UAKTKiiJ. which 

 declared the intention of the parties to the conveyance. But now, 

 since the Statute of Frauds (29 Car. II. 3), a written instrument is 

 necessary. 



Livery of seisin was at first performed in the presence of the free- 

 holders of the neighbourhood, vassals of the feudal lord ; because any 

 dispute relating to the freehold was decided before them as pares curicc, 

 "equals of the court," of the lord of the fee. But afterwards, upon 

 the decay of the feudal system, the livery was made in the presence of 

 any witnesses ; and where a deed was used, the livery was attested by 

 those who were present at it. 



Livery in deed may be made by the feoffor or his attorney to the 

 feoffee or his attorney. When lands lie in several counties, as many 

 liveries are necessary ; and where lands are out on lease, there in 

 as many liveries as there are tenants, for no livery can be made but by 

 the consent of the tenant in possession, and the consent of one will not 

 bind the rest. But livery in law or within view can only be given and 

 taken by the parties themselves, though lands in several counties may 

 pass if they afl be within view. Livery of this nature requires to be 

 perfected by subsequent entry in the lifetime of the fcoflbr. Formerly, 

 if the feoffee durst not enter for fear of his life or bodily harm, his 

 claim, made yearly in the form prescribed by law, and called continual 

 claim, would preserve his right. The security of pi . . )uent 



upon the progress of civilisation having rendered this exception un- 

 necessary, it was abolished by the Statute of Limitations, 3 & 4 



WML iv..,-. -jr. s u. 



Since the Statute of Uses [BARGAIN; SALE; USES] introduced a 

 more convenient mode of conveyance, feoffments have been rarely used 

 in practice, and then rather for their supposed peculiar effects, as 

 wrongful conveyances [CONVEYANCES], than as simple means of trans- 

 ferring property. It has been usual to make corporations conv, , 

 own estates by feoffment, in consequence of the supposition that a 

 corporate body cannot stand seised to a use, though it seems that thin 

 doctrine only applies to the case of lands being conveyed to a corju >- 

 ratii Hi to the use of others. (Oilb. ' On Uses, 1 Sugd. Ed. 7 note.) Where 

 the object to be attained was the destruction of contingent rema 

 or the discontinuance of an estate tail, or the acquirement of a fee for 

 the purpose of levying a fine [FINE] or suffering a recovery 1 1 

 a fuoffment was usually employed. Such indeed was the efficacy 

 attributed to this mode of conveyance by the earlier law writers, that 

 \. IMII the feoffor was in possession, however unfounded his title initHit 

 be, yet his feoffment passed a fee ; voidable, it is true, by the rightful 

 owner, but which by the lapse of time might become good even as 

 against him. Being thus supposed to operate as a disseisin to the 

 rightful owner, it was thought till recently that a person entitled to a 

 term of years might by making a feoffment to a stranger pass a fee to 

 nd then by levying a fine acquire a title by non-claim. This 

 doctrine led to very considerable discussion, and though strictly 

 accordant to the principle of the old law, yet being alike repugnant to 

 the principle.* of justice and of common sense, it has been overruled. 



