These notes prepared by Maureen Spinks accompany the transcriptions of deeds for the Mill buildings.
General Introduction to Deeds
Deeds are an invaluable resource for tracing the history of a property. They are beautifully written on vellum, but tend to be rather large and cumbersome to work from and the legal verbiage can be off-putting. Deeds are easier to understand if you look at them in date order. Where fields are conveyed, sometimes it is possible to match up with reference to field-names on 19th century maps. Deeds themselves tend not to have plans endorsed on them until the mid 19th century, when first the tithe maps and later 1:2500 Ordnance Survey became available. If a document called an "Abstract of Title" (drawn up by the vendor’s solicitor when the property changed hands to show the purchaser that his client was entitled to sell the estate) is available, this can be a useful short-cut. Sometimes the abstract mentions deeds now lost, and generally it will provide an adequate summary of each of the existing deeds.
Most Common Types of Post-Medieval Conveyance
1. Freehold Conveyance
From the 16th to the 19th century, a freehold conveyance, ie outright sale from A to B, was most often effected by one of two procedures:
- Bargain and sale – this was more straightforward and was what it’s name implied
- Lease and release (in the second half of the period) – this was slightly more devious, consisting of a lease (ie the disposal of the property for a temporary period), followed a day later by a "release" in which (in simple terms) the lessor of the previous day’s deed gave up his right to recover the property from the lessee, making the conveyance equivalent to a bargain and sale
In both, the following format was adopted:
- Date and names of the parties (in simple cases the name of the vendore followed by that of the purchaser)
- The "consideration" – the price paid for the property
- The clause which defines the type of conveyance (bargain and sale or lease and release)
- A description of the property, introduced by the phrase "All that …"
2. Leasehold Conveyance
This is where and owner let property either for a year or a term of years (commonly seven or a multiple thereof) or for a term of lives (usually three).
Format adopted:
- Date and names of the parties (in simple cases the name of the vendore followed by that of the purchaser)
- A phrase saying "Hath sett to farm" or "Hath to farm let", which confirms that the document is a lease
- A description of the property, introduced by the phrase "All that …"
- The period for which lease is to run
- The annual rent
- "Reservations" to the landlord (most often woods and minerals on or under the property)
- Other special conditions ("covenants")
Where the term of a lease is very long (999 years, or even 2,000, as occurs occasionally) the conveyance amounts to a sale of the freehold, even though the deed is cast in the form of a lease. In this case, later transfers of the property are by means of an assignment of the lease from the vendor to he purchaser for the period of years remaining unexpired out of the original term.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
In order to understand some of the terms used in ancient deeds, the following glossary may be useful:
Abatement – The abandonment of an action or the reduction of a legacy
Abstract of title – The legal definition of details taken from title deeds
Acquit – To free, release, discharge
Administrators – Personal representatives authorised to administer the estate of a dead person; administrators are appointed by the court in cases of intestacy or where there is no executor willing or able to act
Alien – To dispose of one’s property, ie passing it from one owner to another
Annuity – Payment (generally of uniform amount) falling due in each year during a given term, such as a period of years or the life of an individual, the capital sum not being returnable
Appurtenances – Rights belonging to a property
Assign – Person to whom a lease is assigned or conveyed
Assignment – The procedure by which the leasehold interest in a property is conveyed to another.
Assurance – The securing of a title to property
Assurance policy – While it is not necessary as a condition of obtaining a mortgage to take out a life assurance policy for the amount of the loan, it is usually recommended so that in the event of death, the borrowing is cleared off and dependants can continue to live in the property without meeting further mortgage repayments
Attest – To affirm by signature or oath
Auction – A public sale (on a stated date at a stated time) at which interested parties may go along and bid for what is being offered.
Bargain – A contract or agreement
Behoof – Benefit, convenience
Bequeath – To leave by will to another
Breach – To break a law, contract, covenant, promise, etc
Claim – A demand for something supposed due
Codicil – A supplement to a will
Commodities – Goods
Conveyance – The legal document, the title deed, which conveys ownership from one person to another in the case of an unregistered property; a registered property is conveyed to another party by a transfer and a leasehold by an assignment of the deed
Covenant – A promise made by deed, eg covenants may rule that the purchaser of a particular property will not, for instance, sell off part of his garden to enable another house to be built on the site
Deeds – The legal documents which show details of ownership and other related aspects of a property
Default – To neglect to do what duty or law requires; failure to fulfil a financial obligation
Demesne – A manor-house with lands adjacent to it not let out to tenants; any estate in land
Demise – Transfer of an estate to a successor
Devise – To bequeath
Devisee – One to whom real estate is bequeathed
Discharge – To free from, acquit
Easements – Technical term describing rights which owners of properties might exercise over those adjoining, eg rights of way, rights of drainage
Emoluments – Profit arising from employment, as salary or fees
Equity – Right as founded on the laws of nature; the spirit of justice which enables us to interpret laws rightly
Equity of redemption – The mortgagor’s interest in the property during the continuance of the mortgage
Estate – An interest in land which entitles its owner to exercise proprietary rights over that land for a prescribed period
Eviction – The dispossession of one person by another having a better title of property in land
Execute – To carry into effect
Executors – Personal representatives; executors are appointed by will
Extent - A valuation of property
Fee simple – Unconditional inheritance
Feoff – To grant possession of a fief or property in land
Feoffment – The gift of a fief
Freehold – Term used to define the status of a property; the owner of a freehold property owns the land and buildings on it outright as distinct from a leasehold under which a house or other building is held on a rented basis from the landowner or freeholder
Grant – Conveyance of property by deed
Heir – One who actually succeeds to property, title, etc, on the death of its previous holder
Hereditaments – Real property which may be inherited
Imposition – A tax, a burden
Incumbrance – A legal claim on an estate
Indefeasible – Not to be made void
Indenture – A written agreement between two or more parties; a deed under seal, with mutual covenants, where the edge is indented for future identification
Insurance – An arrangement for the payment of a sum of money in the event of loss or injury
Interest – Premium paid for the use of money
Intestate – Dying without having made a will
Issues – Children
Jointure – Property settled on a woman at marriage to be enjoyed after her husband’s death
Lease – A contract letting a house, farm, etc, for a term
Leasehold – A leasehold is a form of tenancy under which a ground rent is paid to the freehold owner of land or buildings for a specific number of years, eg 999 years
Lessee – A leaseholder to whom an original lease was granted; one who holds a lease. He has, as lessee, a legal right in a property for a fixed term of years so long as he meets the conditions of his lease, the main one of which is the payment of a ground rent for the property
Lessor – The person who grants a lease
Limit – Restriction
Memorandum – A brief note of a transaction
Mesne – Intermediate
Messuage – A dwelling and offices with the adjoining lands appropriated to the household
Mortgage – A conditional conveyance of land or other property as security for the payment of money or discharge of an obligation, becoming void on the performance of the condition
Mortgagee – The lender of money on mortgage
Mortgagor – The borrower of money on mortgage
Peppercorn rent – Trivial, nominal amount of rent
Premises – The beginning of a deed setting forth its subject-matter
Prerogative Court – Formerly a court having jurisdiction over testamentary matters
Proviso – A provision or condition in a deed or other writing
Ratify – To approve and sanction, especially by signature
Real property or real estate – Terms used in law for freehold land and houses, to distinguish it from personal property which covers all other forms
Recital – That part of a deed which gives the circumstances
Reconveyance – Transferral again to a former owner, as an estate
Redemption – It is possible to redeem a mortgage, that is pay off a loan, before the term for which it was initially issued has expired; to redeem a mortgage, the mortgagor is also obliged to meet any outstanding interest and the expenses for redemption
Reentries – Entering again, resumption of possession
Relation – Narrative or recital, statement, an information (law)
Release – To give up a right to
Remainder – An interest in an estate to come into effect after a certain other event happens
Rents – Periodical payment for use of another’s property, especially houses and lands
Residue – What is left of an estate after payment of debts, charges and legacie
Reversion – The return, or the future possession, of any property after some particular event, eg if a grantor grants a life interest to someone, he therefore retains a right to the land when the interests he has granted come to an end
Revoke – To annul, retract
Rights – The principle in law is that a man must exercise his rights over his own property without causing damage or nuisance to the property of his neighbours
Rights of way – A right of way gives another party sanction to cross an owner’s property for some reason. A right of way which is common to owners of adjoining properties must not be obstructed by anyone
Seal – A piece of wax stamped with a device and attached as a means of authentication or attestation
Security – Pledge, guarantee
Seized – In legal possession of
Set one’s hand to – To sign
Statute – A written law
Tenant – One who has, on certain conditions, temporary possession of any place
Tenant farmer – A farmer who rents a farm
Tenement – Anything held by a tenant
Tenure – Conditions on which property is held
Term of years – An interest or estate in land for a period
Testator – One who leaves a will
Testify – Make a solemn declaration
Title – A person’s right to property, or the evidence of that right; the title is traceable through the deeds which show previous transactions relating to the property
Title deeds – The documents which provide evidence of ownership of a freehold or leasehold property
Transfer – The legal method by which the title deed to a registered property is transferred from a seller to a buyer
Trustee – One to whom anything is entrusted; one to whom the management of a property is committed in trust for the benefit of others
Unexpired – Still valid, ie not expired
Will – Written document detailing distribution of one’s effects at death