MANORIAL LAW & OUR APPROACH
The History of Manorial Law and Rights in England and Wales
Manorial law is one of the oldest surviving strands of the law of property in England and Wales. Its origins stretch back many centuries, with manorial structures existing before the Norman Conquest and becoming more formalised after 1066 as landholding, local administration and obligations between lords and tenants developed within the feudal system. HM Land Registry describes manors as being of ancient origin and recognises that the extent of a manor was historically determined by the grant or tenure from which it arose. [1]
A manor was not simply a large house or country estate. Historically, it was a legal, economic and administrative unit. It could include land occupied directly by the lord, land held by tenants, common land, wastes, local customs and various rights and obligations. The manor often functioned as an important centre of local administration, particularly through the manorial courts. [1] [2]
Manorial Courts and Local Administration
For centuries, the manorial court played a central role in regulating local landholding and community affairs.
The court baron dealt primarily with matters internal to the manor, including customary landholding, succession to tenancies, transfers of copyhold land, rents, services and the enforcement of manorial custom.
The court leet, where such jurisdiction existed, exercised aspects of local public administration and minor criminal jurisdiction on behalf of the Crown. Matters could include local order, roads, nuisance, minor offences and other community responsibilities. [2]
The records produced by these courts are now among the most important surviving sources for the social, legal and economic history of England and Wales. Court rolls, rentals, surveys, maps and customary records can reveal the identities of tenants and landholders, patterns of inheritance, agricultural activity, local disputes, occupations and the changing structure of communities over many centuries. [2] [3]
Copyhold and Customary Landholding
One of the most distinctive forms of manorial tenure was copyhold. Copyhold land was held according to the custom of a particular manor. Transactions involving copyhold land were entered on the manorial court roll, and the tenant received a copy of the relevant entry as evidence of their title. The term “copyhold” derives from this practice. [2]
For many centuries, copyhold formed an important part of English and Welsh landholding. Because the rights of copyhold tenants depended upon the customs of the manor and the records of the manorial court, surviving court rolls could have significant legal as well as historical importance.
The Long Decline of the Medieval Manorial System
The medieval manorial system did not disappear at one particular moment. Its practical importance gradually diminished as the economy changed, feudal obligations weakened, national courts expanded their jurisdiction and land increasingly came to be held under modern forms of freehold and leasehold tenure.
An important early development was Quia Emptores 1290, which restricted the process known as subinfeudation. Rather than allowing a tenant to create a new layer of feudal tenure beneath themselves, a transfer would normally place the new holder directly in the existing feudal relationship. The statute became an important part of the historical development of English land law and is relevant to understanding why wholly new feudal manors could not simply continue to be privately created in later centuries. [4]
Despite this gradual decline, many manorial institutions survived for a remarkably long period. Some manorial courts continued to operate into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. [2]
The Property Reforms of the 1920s
The most significant modern transformation came through the major property reforms of the early twentieth century. The Law of Property Act 1922 and associated reforms abolished copyhold tenure and converted remaining copyhold interests into modern freehold ownership. This removed one of the principal practical functions of the manorial courts. [5] However, the reforms did not abolish the lordship of the manor itself.
This distinction is fundamental to modern manorial law. The system of customary land tenure was largely dismantled, but some legal interests associated with historic manors were preserved. The National Archives confirms that manorial lordships survived the property reforms and may still be bought and sold today. [3]
The Preservation of Manorial Records
Because legal title to former copyhold land had often depended upon entries contained in manorial court rolls, Parliament recognised the importance of preserving those records even after copyhold tenure had been abolished. Legislation placed specified manorial documents under the supervision of the Master of the Rolls, and the Manorial Documents Register was subsequently established to record the existence and location of important surviving manorial records. [6]
The Manorial Documents Register is therefore extremely important for historical research. It is not, however, a register of legal ownership.
The National Archives makes clear that the register identifies manorial documents and their location, but it does not establish who presently owns a particular lordship. [3] That distinction is important because the existence of court rolls, deeds or historical references may establish that a manor existed and may help reconstruct its history, but those records do not themselves transfer the proprietary lordship to a modern person or organisation.
Lordship, Land and Manorial Rights
Modern law distinguishes between three historically connected but legally separate concepts:
-
the lordship of the manor;
-
the physical land formerly forming part of the manor; and
-
separate manorial rights or incidents.
HM Land Registry explains that these interests can exist independently of one another. [1] A lordship of the manor is an incorporeal hereditament. In simple terms, it is an intangible property interest rather than physical land. A lordship may therefore continue to exist even where the original manorial estate has long since been divided and sold. [1] [7] This is why a modern lordship of the manor should not be understood as necessarily involving ownership of a manor house, estate, village or surrounding land.
Surviving Manorial Rights
Certain manorial rights also survived the twentieth-century reforms. Depending upon the history of the individual manor and subsequent transactions, these could include rights relating to:
-
mines and minerals;
-
hunting, shooting or fishing;
-
fairs and markets;
-
common land or waste;
-
and certain historic obligations or privileges associated with the manor. [1]
These rights are legally distinct from the lordship itself. A person may therefore own the lordship of a manor without owning any land or possessing all of the rights historically associated with that manor. Equally, particular manorial rights may have been separately retained, transferred, extinguished or protected.
HM Land Registry guidance also explains that new manorial incidents could not be created after 1925. Modern claims to such rights must therefore depend upon the survival of genuine historic rights rather than the creation of new ones. [1]
The Land Registration Act 2002
A further significant change came with the Land Registration Act 2002. Before 13 October 2003 it had been possible voluntarily to register a lordship title with HM Land Registry. Since that date, applications for the first registration of a lordship of the manor are no longer permitted. [1]
Existing registered lordship titles may continue to be dealt with, and a registered proprietor may apply for the lordship to be removed from the register. Where that happens, the lordship itself does not necessarily cease to exist; it may continue as an unregistered interest. [1] [8]
The modern Land Register is therefore not a complete register of every surviving lordship in England and Wales. This has an important practical consequence: An unregistered lordship is not necessarily an extinct lordship. Similarly, the absence of an identifiable owner from a modern register does not establish that the historic interest has become ownerless or available to claim.
The 2013 Manorial Rights Deadline
The Land Registration Act 2002 also changed the treatment of certain surviving manorial rights.
Historically, some manorial rights were capable of binding registered land even when they were not expressly shown on the register. The 2002 Act provided for the loss of this special overriding status after 12 October 2013, encouraging holders to protect qualifying rights by notice or caution. [1] [9] The approach to that deadline generated considerable public attention. Large numbers of applications relating to manorial rights were made in the years leading up to October 2013, prompting concern among homeowners who discovered that historic rights were being asserted over their properties.
The House of Commons Justice Committee subsequently examined the operation of manorial rights law and the registration process. [9] Importantly, the Committee noted that the entry of a notice on the Land Register did not itself prove that the underlying manorial right was legally valid. Registration could protect a claimed interest, but it was not equivalent to a court determining that the interest actually existed. [9]
Manorial Law Today
Most of the administrative and social structure of the medieval manor has disappeared, but parts of manorial law continue to survive within modern English and Welsh property law. A genuine lordship of the manor may continue to exist as an incorporeal hereditament. Certain historic manorial rights may also survive where they can be properly established and have not been extinguished, transferred away or affected by later legislation and registration rules. [1] [3]
The House of Commons Justice Committee recognised that lordships and surviving manorial rights may still have economic value and that there remains a market in genuine historic interests. [9] What survives today is therefore not the medieval manorial system in its original social form, but a much narrower body of historic property interests whose legal effect is governed by modern property and registration law.
Why This History Matters
The depth of this history is precisely why historic manorial titles must be approached carefully. A manor may have existed for many hundreds of years. Historic court rolls may survive. The names of former lords may be readily traceable. The manor may appear in the Manorial Documents Register and in archival sources.
But none of those facts, by themselves, establish present legal ownership of the historic lordship.
The legal developments stretching from Quia Emptores 1290, through the Law of Property reforms of the 1920s, to the Land Registration Act 2002, have progressively separated the historic institution of the manor from the narrower proprietary interests capable of surviving today. [1] [4] [5] Understanding that distinction is fundamental to the MANORIAL HOUSE approach.
Historic lordships of the manor are genuine legal interests recognised by English property law. HM Land Registry describes a lordship of the manor as an incorporeal hereditament and distinguishes it from both the physical land of the manor and separate manorial rights. HM Land Registry also recognises that the owner of a genuine lordship is entitled to refer to themselves as lord of that manor. [1] For that reason, MANORIAL HOUSE does not treat historical research alone as sufficient to create or establish ownership of an original historic lordship.
A Genuine Historic Lordship Requires Lawful Title
Where a historic lordship continues to exist, ownership is a matter of property law. The lordship may pass through a legally effective sale, conveyance, inheritance, will, settlement or other lawful disposition. The fundamental requirement is that the person purporting to transfer the lordship must themselves possess a valid title capable of being transferred.
The National Archives confirms that surviving lordships may still be bought and sold, while also making clear that ownership of a lordship is distinct from ownership of the historical records associated with it and this distinction is critical. [3]
Locating a manor in historical records does not create ownership. Finding court rolls does not create ownership. Identifying the names of former lords does not create ownership. Historical research may provide evidence relevant to establishing title, but it is not itself a conveyance of the proprietary lordship.
The Manorial Documents Register Is Not a Register of Title
The Manorial Documents Register is an important historical resource, but it should not be confused with HM Land Registry. Its purpose is to identify surviving manorial documents and record where those documents are held. [3] [6]
The National Archives expressly explains that the register is concerned with manorial documents, not with determining present-day proprietary ownership. [3] Accordingly, the appearance of a manor in the Manorial Documents Register does not establish who presently owns the lordship. Nor does the failure to identify a current owner establish that the lordship has become available for somebody else simply to claim.
A Missing Owner Does Not Create a New Owner
The importance of establishing genuine legal title can be seen in the modern litigation concerning Walker v Burton. The dispute concerned claimed ownership of the Lordship of the Manor of Ireby and associated interests. It was considered in the High Court in Walker & Ors v Burton & Anor [2012] EWHC 978 (Ch) and subsequently in the Court of Appeal in Walker & Anor v Burton & Anor [2013] EWCA Civ 1228. [10] [11]
The litigation demonstrates the difficulties that arise when the documentary chain of an alleged historic lordship is incomplete or defective.
A person may historically have used or assumed a manorial title, but use of the title does not necessarily establish legal ownership of the underlying incorporeal hereditament. The proceedings also considered alternative attempts to establish rights through concepts such as adverse possession, prescription and proprietary estoppel. Those arguments did not provide a simple mechanism by which a defective historic proprietary title could be replaced. [10] [11]
The broader practical lesson is clear: Historical association, long use, assumption of a title or the absence of an obvious current owner does not by itself create ownership of the original lordship.
An Historic Lordship Cannot Simply Be Recreated Privately
The historic background of English land law also places important limits on the creation of new feudal interests. Quia Emptores 1290 restricted the creation of new layers of feudal tenure through subinfeudation and forms part of the legal background to the proposition that a modern private person or company cannot simply manufacture a new medieval manor through an ordinary contractual transaction. [4] [11]
Similarly, the twentieth-century reforms did not create a mechanism allowing extinct proprietary lordships to be privately reconstructed simply because their historic name and history are known. Where a genuine historic lordship survives, the relevant question is therefore one of existing title and lawful succession or transfer. If no surviving proprietary title can be established, historical research alone does not create one.
Registration Does Not Create the Historic Right
Modern registration mechanisms should not be confused with the creation of ownership. Since 13 October 2003, HM Land Registry no longer permits first registration of a lordship title. Existing registered lordships may remain registered, while a lordship removed from the register may continue to exist off-register. [1] [8]
This means that unregistered does not mean extinct, unidentified does not mean ownerless and historical evidence alone does not amount to a legal conveyance. The same principle applies to surviving manorial rights. As the House of Commons Justice Committee noted, the entry of a notice on the Land Register does not itself establish that the underlying claimed right is valid. [9]
How a Genuine Historic Lordship May Be Acquired
A genuine surviving lordship may be acquired where there is a lawful proprietary interest capable of transfer. That may occur through:
-
purchase and conveyance from a person with valid title;
-
inheritance or succession;
-
a valid will or settlement;
-
another legally effective disposition;
-
or, historically and in appropriate circumstances, a Crown-derived grant or interest.
The critical point is not simply that a document refers to a lordship; the critical question is whether the person making the transfer actually owns the proprietary interest they purport to convey. Where ownership is disputed or the chain of title is incomplete, the evidential burden may be substantial. [10] [11]
MANORIAL HOUSE therefore does not describe the discovery of an historic manor as the discovery of an “unclaimed title”, nor do we suggest that a dormant, unregistered or historically obscure lordship may simply be appropriated and reissued.
Why Our Structure Is Different
MANORIAL HOUSE takes a deliberately different approach. We research the history of an authentic historic manor and document its historical designation, former lords, records and local significance. But unless genuine proprietary title has separately been established and lawfully acquired, we do not claim to own, revive, recreate, re-grant or convey the original historic lordship.
Instead, MANORIAL HOUSE creates a new modern private contractual Style-Title, associated with the researched historical designation. For example, a historic designation may be styled 'Lordship of the Manor of Exampleton'. MANORIAL HOUSE's Style-Title is more commonly styled as 'Lord of Exampleton'.
These are intentionally different concepts. The first describes an historic proprietary lordship whereas the second is a modern private contractual style created within MANORIAL HOUSE. The contractual Style-Title is not represented as ownership of the historic lordship and does not confer:
-
ownership of land;
-
manorial rights;
-
mineral or sporting rights;
-
a peerage;
-
nobility;
-
a Crown dignity;
-
public office;
-
governmental recognition;
-
or registration as the owner of the original historic lordship.
Preserving History Without Claiming Ownership of It
This approach allows MANORIAL HOUSE to preserve and communicate genuine local history without blurring the distinction between historical research and proprietary title. The history of a manor provides the provenance and historical context and the contractual deed provides the modern legal framework. Those two elements are deliberately kept separate.
That distinction reflects the development of manorial law itself: genuine historic proprietary interests can survive, but their ownership depends upon lawful title rather than historical association alone. [1] [3] [10] [11]
Our Guiding Principle
We preserve and interpret history; we do not manufacture ownership of it.
Where a genuine historic proprietary lordship can be established and lawfully conveyed, it is capable of being treated as the historic property interest that it is. Where it cannot, MANORIAL HOUSE does not treat the absence of a readily identifiable owner as permission to claim or recreate the ancient title. Instead, the historic manor provides the foundation for a separately created, transparently described modern contractual Style-Title.
References
[1] HM Land Registry, Practice Guide 22: Manors – Manorial Titles and Rights.
Official HM Land Registry guidance concerning lordships of the manor, manorial land and manorial rights. It explains the historic nature of manors, describes a lordship as an incorporeal hereditament, distinguishes lordship from land and manorial rights, addresses surviving manorial incidents and explains the registration position following the Land Registration Act 2002.
[2] The National Archives, A Guide to Manorial Documents.
Provides historical explanation of manors, the court baron, court leet, customary tenure, copyhold and the types of records created by manorial administration.
[3] The National Archives, Manorial Documents and Lordships: How to Use the Manorial Documents Register.
Explains the continuing existence of lordships following the twentieth-century property reforms, confirms that lordships may still be bought and sold and distinguishes ownership of a lordship from ownership or custody of manorial documents. It also explains that the Manorial Documents Register is not a register of title.
[4] Quia Emptores 1290 (18 Edw I c 1).
Historic statute restricting subinfeudation and forming an important part of the development of English feudal and property law.
[5] Law of Property Act 1922 and associated Law of Property reforms.
Abolished copyhold tenure and converted remaining copyhold land into modern forms of ownership, removing one of the principal practical functions of the manorial court while leaving lordships themselves capable of continuing separately.
[6] The National Archives, Historical and Legislative Background to the Manorial Documents Register; Law of Property Act 1922 and Law of Property (Amendment) Act 1924.
Explains the statutory protection of manorial records, the supervision of specified records by the Master of the Rolls and the development of the Manorial Documents Register.
[7] HM Land Registry, Practice Guide 13: Official Searches of the Index of Relating Franchises and Manors.
Explains searches of HM Land Registry's index relating to registered manors and franchises and confirms the treatment of registered lordship titles as incorporeal hereditaments.
[8] Land Registration Act 2002, including section 119, together with HM Land Registry Practice Guide 22.
Provides the modern statutory framework under which first registration of a lordship title ceased to be available after 13 October 2003 and under which certain registered lordship titles may be removed from the register without necessarily extinguishing the underlying interest.
[9] House of Commons Justice Committee, Manorial Rights, Fifth Report of Session 2014–15, HC 657.
Examined surviving manorial rights, the 2013 registration deadline, unilateral notices, economic value and the continuing modern significance of lordships and manorial rights. The report also emphasised that registration of a notice does not itself establish the validity of the underlying claimed right.
[10] Walker & Ors v Burton & Anor [2012] EWHC 978 (Ch).
High Court proceedings concerning disputed claims relating to the Lordship of the Manor of Ireby and associated property. An important modern example of the evidential difficulties involved in establishing historic manorial title.
[11] Walker & Anor v Burton & Anor [2013] EWCA Civ 1228.
Court of Appeal judgment arising from the Ireby dispute. Relevant to the distinction between the lordship as an incorporeal hereditament and associated land, the effect of defective historic conveyancing, and unsuccessful attempts to establish claimed title through alternative doctrines.
[12] Land Registration Act 2002, section 117 and transitional provisions relating to overriding interests.
Changed the treatment of specified manorial rights as overriding interests and led to the 12 October 2013 deadline for retaining automatic overriding status, subject to the detailed statutory and registration framework.