INSOLVENT DEBTORS-continued.
reference to 19th sect. of 7 Geo. 4, c. 57, pre-
venting an avoidance of acts under the first
conveyance by relation; and requiring the
conveyance to provisional assignee, and coun-
terpart of his conveyance to general as-
signees, to be filed of record in Insolvent
Debtors' Court, and making a certified copy
evidence of the conveyance Page 307, n.
under 11th and 20th sects. of 7 Geo. 4, legal
seizin was in the assignee, and entry of the
assignment on the rolls not essential, except
as regarded the derivative title of a pur-
chaser
ib.
analogy of 20th sect. of 7 Geo. 4, to the com-
pounding clause in bankrupt act of 6 Geo. 4,
ib.
c. 16, [s. 69]
reference to 1 & 2 Vict. c. 110; repealing the
provisions of the acts of 7 Geo. 4 & 1
Will. 4, as to the conveyance of copyhold and
customary estates, and vesting such property
in the provisional assignee, (a certified copy
of the order for that purpose, and of the ap-
pointment of the general assignee being en-
tered on the court rolls,) and creating a
power in the general assignee to surrender to
a purchaser 141, n., 308, 351, n., App.
754, 1001, et seq.

what services he is to perform
See GUARDIAN; TRUSTEE; SURRENDER.

INFORMATION. See QUO WARRANTO.

INHABITANT; the term may receive its inter-
pretation from usage

ISSUE. See DEVISE.

J.

686, n.

JETSAM. See WRECK.

See COMMON; PRESCRIP

474, 477

..

474, 475

INHABITANTS.

TION.

hold
void by the statute of frauds, regulates the
terms of the tenancy
but does not operate as a term
yet what was considered before the statute as a
tenancy at will, is now deemed a tenancy
from year to year
ib.

by 8 & 9 Vict. c. 106, s. 3, a lease required
by law to be in writing must be made by
deed
App. 1130

cannot be granted by a copyholder beyond a
year, without a special custom, or the lord's
licence
456, 457
a grant by copy is a sufficient letting to farm
within the stat. 32 Hen. 8, authorizing leases
by tenants in tail, &c.
87, n.
whether a lease by licence of the lord, or under
a custom, would be within that stat. ib.
with licence was extendible at law before
1 & 2 Vict. c. 110
48, n.
See LICENCE; PRESUMPTION.
LEASEHOLD; will pass under a devise of real
estate, when the intention is clear 241, n.
LEATHER SEALERS. See LEET

LEET.

..

719

ib.

is a court of record of great antiquity 669
and accounted the king's court
may belong to the lord of a hundred or manor
by grant

the usual period, manner and places of its
assembly
ib., 672
the nature of the SHIRE-GEMOT Court 672
the period of its assembly, and the constituent
members
672, 673
the relative offices and duties of the ealdorman
(or alderman), shiregerieve, domesmen, &c.
672, n.
doubtful whether in the earlier Saxon times the
alderman was appointed by the king.. ib.

a great or general placitum, great gemot, or
plea of land, sometimes holden in different
parts of the country
673, n.

a COUNTY COURT instituted for trial of the
causes left undecided at the shire-gemot, 673
and which also held an inquest or view of frank
pledge
674

or by prescription

ib.
ib.

but the lord has the profits of the court only, ib.
and the lord of a leet cannot claim the wastes
by prescription

ib., n.

division of the court into two

these subordinate courts were sometimes called
FOLCKMOTES

673, D.
673

all criminal matters and the view of frank-
pledge transacted in the one called the
TOURN
Page 673
all civil matters in the other, called the COUNTY
COURT
the tourn was held twice in the year in every
hundred
ib., 674
the view of frank-pledge represented to have
been taken only at the tourn after Easter
[but see post]

..

674

ib.

the county court held once a month
several courts subordinate to the shire-gemot
established on the subdivision of shires.. ib.
the nature of the TRITHING COURT, (the next
in importance to the shire-gemot,) and the
office of trithing-man or lathgerieve ib.
this court discontinued at an earlier period than
those about to be mentioned
ib.
the nature of the HUNDRED COURT, and the
office of hundredary
ib.
the period and manner of its assembly ib.
discontinued in the reign of Edward the third
ib., n.
but hundred courts still exist under grants
made on the decline of the Saxon jurispru
dence
674, 675, n.
hence probably the baron's mote or moot court
675, n.
the nature of the BURGE-MOTE, or FOLC-GEMOT
(or folckmote) court
675

and of the PORTMOTE (or portmoot) court, ib., n.
the presiding magistrate was called in the
former the towngerieve, and in the latter
portgerieve

the probable period of the institution of the
representative system

..

ib.

679
the establishment of the courts as now existing
in Westminster Hall
680
the king sat in person in the King's Bench, ib.
hence the idea of his being always present in it
ib.
an allusion to the introduction of the offices of
justices itinerant, and of assize, &c. .. ib.
and justices of the peace, and the courts of
quarter sessions
when the jurisdiction of the county court was
restrained to pleas of debt under 40s. ib.
and pleas of land confined to the higher tribu-
nals
ib.
the decline of the leet ascribed to the reduction
of the authority of the sheriff in his tourn
680, 681
but the powers of the leet are far from being
circumscribed
681

Further Illustration of the Constitution of the
Court Leet, and its present Practice.
the style of the court

675

usually held monthly

ib.

but special meetings convened by the mot-bell
ib.

may be appendant to a vill
and to an ancient messuage

ib.

681, n.
the leet may be appendant to a hundred, but
is not necessarily incident to it.. 669, 681,
689, n.
may be appendant to a manor

681

where the king purchased two-thirds of the
manor, the leet held to be appendant to the
remaining one-third

ib., n.

681
ib., 682

this submission inquired of at the inquest or
view of frank-pledge

ib.

the probable period of the institution of the

corporate places

leet, as an appendant franchise

ib.

The King v. Rowland

derivation of the term leet

lords of each leet, &c., were summoned
Wittena-gemot

to the

corporate jurisdictions superinduced upon the

an allusion to the Anglo-Saxon tenure

677 & n.

whether in the absence of any trace of its in-
stitution, when the leet exists in a borough

..

683, n.

by Mag. Ch., (9 Hen. 3, c. 35,) the view of
frank pledge, or leet of the tourn, to be kept
at the feast of Saint Michael 682, 683
whether it was introductive of a new law as
regards private leets
683 & n.
those granted subsequently must be held on
the days mentioned in the charter .. ib.
whether there is any distinction in this respect
between prescriptive leets and those held by
grant
683, n.
prescriptive leets must be held according to
the immemorial usage
683

but not on a Sunday

ib.
may be held oftener than twice in the year, by
prescription
ib.

and once or twice a year on reasonable warn-
ing, if kept at uncertain times.. ib., n.
better to hold the court leet within a month
after Michaelmas
the established period of a month after some
feast is to be accounted a lunar month, 683
may be adjourned by three proclamations ..ib.
Where to be held.

prior to the statute of Marlborough, (52 Hen.
3, c. 10,) all persons from twelve to sixty
years, without distinction, (except only
clergy having curam animarum,) were bound
to attend the tourn
684, 685
by that statute certain persons are exempt from
such attendance, unless for special cause, 685
but the exemption is personal, and holding lands
discharged of secular services does not ex-
cuse the attendance
ib.,
women never sworn to allegiance in tourns or
leets
684, n.
but were originally compellable to attend the
717, n.
persons compellable to attend the tourn were
to be sworn to their fealty and allegiance, 685

tourn

LEET-continued.

Lord Coke of opinion, that though the 9 Hen. 3,
c. 35, was restricted to the leet of the tourn,
yet that the exemptions of the statute of
Marlborough extended to the leets of private
lords
685

reasons for doubting the fact

ib.

yet semble, that no man is bound to attend two
leets
.. 686, 716
unless, as it should seem, he resides sometimes
in one place and sometimes in another, and
is present when the different leets happen to
be held
716, n.
but persons having lands in the precincts of
different leets are to do suit to the leet where
they reside
.. ib.
a man who has a house within two leets is
conversant where his bed is
686
the word "inhabitant" therefore, when the
view of frankpledge is spoken of, cannot
mean occupier
.. ib., n.
the lord of a hundred leet has not a concurrent
jurisdiction with the lord of the manor leet

686
regularly, he that owes suit to the leet owes
none to the hundred, except by custom

717, n.
special customs derogating from the common
law are good as to hundreds, &c., but are
denied as to inferior places, such as upland

towns

ib.

and if a private leet has a partial jurisdiction
only, the resiants must attend the superior
leet, or the tourn, as to all matters not cogni-
zable in the private leet
716, D.
and articles neglected to be inquired of in the
manor leet are inquirable of in the hundred
leet
689, n., 721
but the neglect of a lord of a manor leet was
punishable in the eyre, and not in the hundred
leet
721, n.
it is a good custom for the chief pledges of the
inferior leet, and a limited number of resiants,
to attend the grand leet .. 716, n.
leets in ancient boroughs appeared in EYRE by
four, and considered as distinct from the
hundred
716, 717, n.
suit to the leet is due by resiancy, and has no

n.

his essential qualifications

the charges of an attorney for holding a court
leet are taxable
ib., n.
semble, that the steward is an essential officer
in the leet
688, 689
and that the lord cannot hold his own court, 689
the leet distinguishable in that respect from a
customary court and court baron, 688, 689
but a dictum discovered of C. J. Holt, that in
a private leet the lord may sit as judge
689, n.
whether the steward does not preside wholly in
a judicial character
690, 702
whether it is not the duty of the bailiff to per-
form every ministerial act, and, therefore, to
impanel the leet jury.. 690, 691, 698, 699
though the power may be opposed by special
custom [Rex v. Harrison; Crane v. Holland]
698, 700
by custom the steward may nominate the per-
sons to be summoned by the bailiff as jurors
690, n., 699, n.
the case of The King v. Joliffe
700, 701
a custom for jurors to present persons to be
admitted burgesses, to be sworn in by the
steward of the borough and manor, is good
701, n.
references to the statute law, and to various
authors, in affirmance of the position that the
steward acts judicially, and that the bailiff is
to perform all ministerial acts .. 690, &c.

..

he may take a recognizance of the peace ..702
and fine for a contempt of court
ib.
and commit the party till the fine be paid
ib., 705, 731, n.
but that course unadvisable, as an action of
debt lies
702, n.
may commit a person to prison for a gross mis-
demeanour in the court
702
in some cases the steward may impanel a
second jury to inquire into the concealments
of the first, and fine them, 693, n., 721 & n.
[but on this point see 6 Geo. 4, c. 50, s. 60.]
the refusal of the jury to make presentment is
a contempt for which the steward may impose
a fine

but the fine must be set severally

705

ib.