Book II. LAYING OUT ESTATES. 501 



which to ground the future management of the estate. For these, and other reasons, a 

 purchase by private contract is most to be desired, by a gentleman who is not in tihe 

 habit of personally attending public sales, and is unacquainted with the business of 

 auction rooms. 



3219. The particidars to be required from a surveyor ^ or surveyors, are principally 

 these : the rental value of each field or parcel of land, with the state in which it lies, as 

 to arable, meadow, pasture, or woodland : the value of the timber and other appur- 

 tenances : the characteristic, and the state of management of each farm or tenement, 

 with the eligibility of its occupier, together with the state of repair of buildings, gates, 

 fences, watercourses, and roads : the amount of the encumbrances and outgoings : and, 

 lastly, the probable value of the improvements of which the estate may appear to be 

 capable ; whether by ordinary or extraordinary means. 



3220. Tlie subjects of treaty after these particulars of information are procured are few. 

 The two statements have been duly compared, so that no misunderstanding can take place 

 between the parties, the price, with the times and mode of payment, are the principal mat- 

 ters of agreement. A clear understanding respecting the custody of title deeds, and the 

 expenses of conveyance, require, however, to be enumerated among the preliminaries of 

 purchase. 



3221. The business of negociation is best carried on by letters, which become vouchers 

 of facts. Whatever is done by interview, requires to be reduced to writing, and to be 

 read by, or to, the parties, before they separate, that no possibility of misconception may 

 arise. And, added to these precautions, it is proper, in large purchases, and when ab- 

 stracts of intricate title deeds are to be made out, and examined, tliat a legal contract, or 

 memorandum of agreement, should be entered into, for the mutual satisfaction and surety 

 of the parties. 



3222. This contract, and the deed of conveyance, fnamely the instrument which is le- 

 gally to transfer the property from the seller to the purchaser,) may be said to conclude 

 and ratify the business of purchase ; and in this part of it legal assistance is essentially ne- 

 cessary, to examine existing deeds, and see that the seller has a legal right and clear title to 

 the land, and a legal power to dispose of it, as well as to draw up, or examine, the fresh 

 deed of conveyance, and see that it is sufficient to transfer the property, legally and ade- 

 quately, to the purchaser. 



3223. The preservation of titles may be adverted to before dismissing this subject. In 

 Scotland, deeds of conveyance, and other deeds, are registered in one magnificent build- 

 ing, whose internal economy is as admirably adapted to its design, as its outward form is 

 beautiful. And, in England, there are two counties (Yorkshire and Middlesex) which 

 are termed register counties ; in which abstracts of deeds are preserved, and so arranged as 

 to be readily referred to. Hence, in cases where the original deeds are destroyed, or lost, 

 these registered abstracts are sufficient evidences of their having existed, and capable of se- 

 curing the titles of estates to their rightful owners; and are moreover valuable, in pre- 

 venting fraudulent practices, particularly respecting mortgages. Nevertheless, the other 

 counties of England remain, from reign to reign, destitute of these advantages. 



BOOK II. 



OF TfKE LATINO OUT, OR. GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF LANDED ESTATES. 



3224. The laying out of an extensive landed estate embraces a variety of subjects, and 

 recjuires extensive information and enlarged views of political, agricultural, and even of 

 \noral improvement. In new countries, such as America, where an estate is laid out 

 ob origine, this is more particularly the case ; but the observation will also apply to 

 many parts of the British isles, where estates, long since appropriated, require rearraage- 

 raent and improvement. 



3225. Among the different objects of attention in laying out or re-arranging a landed 

 estate, one of the first is its consolidation, or the rounding off or simplifying the outline 

 so as the whole may be brought into a compact form. This envis de s'arrondir seems to 

 have existed, and the proximity and intermixture of property to have been felt as an evil 

 by landed proprietors in all ages. Ahab desired the field of Naboth, because it was near 

 to his house ; and Marvel, the attorney {Massingcrs New Way to Pay Old Debts, <^c.) 

 advised his client to " hedge in the manor of Master Frugal," because " his land, lying 

 in the midst of yours, is a foul' blemish." 



3226. In, consolidaling property in Britain, an equally desirable object is the appro- 

 priation of commonable lands, which, in England, can only be effected under the author 



Kk 3 



