CHAP. II. 
1 
STATE OF PROPERTY, 
SECTi i.— ESTATES. 
' 1 ' I 
The landed property of this county, like that of 
all other commercial parts of the empire, is diffused, 
into the hands of the various classes of mankind, from 
the privileged peer, the titled commoner, the opulent 
esquire, the merchant, thriving manufacturer or trades¬ 
man, to the independent, but less opulent, freeholder 
and yeoman; land being often upon sale, becomes the 
property of those who have saved money to purchase 
it, either by hereditary property, by trade, or agri¬ 
culture. The county has a good many resident families 
of considerable opulence and fortune* 
2i TENURES. 
The tenures here, as ih'other parts of the kingdom, 
are either freehold, held by a prescriptive right; copy¬ 
hold, held under a superior lord, by a copy roll in per¬ 
petuity, but subject to payment of fines upon death of 
the owner, by his successor; or upon transfer or alie¬ 
nation ; or thirdly, leasehold under the church, or public 
bodies, for three lives j when a life drops, the lessor 
may, or not, at his pleasure, put in another; but, hav¬ 
ing only a life interest, he generally does so, upon pay¬ 
ment of a suitable fine by the lessee; the reserved rents 
in these cases being generally very small in proportion 
to the present value. 
WORCESTERSHIRE.] C CHAP.. 
