Manorial Terms

The following list is not exhaustive, but aims to cover most of the terms which may be encountered by modern researchers.

Term & Definition

Abstract of title; document showing how the title of a property devolved to the current owner; often a summary of prior ownership listing details of previous deeds.

Abuttal; adjoining property to that involved in a deed.

Administration; process by which goods and possessions passed to the heirs of a person who had died intestate

Annuity; annual money payment.

Apportionment allotment, usually of a sum of money such as a rent or a tithe payment, between a number of beneficiaries in the proportion due to them.

Appurtenance; other 'things' belonging to a property, e.g. yards, gardens, rights etc.

Assignee; person to whom something has been assigned or transferred.

Assignment; transfer - perhaps of a lease or a mortgage.

Bar entail; prevent an entail from taking effect.

Bargain and sale; an early form of conveyance.

Bond; agreement to pay a penalty if certain conditions or actions are not performed.

Chancery; formerly the highest court of the land, to which many cases relating to property were taken.

Common recovery; a legal 'fiction' by which land could be transferred instead of using a conveyance.

Consideration; usually the purchase money for a property; sometimes the consideration was not a monetary payment but the 'natural love and affection' from a parent to a child.

Convey; to transfer freehold property from one party to another.

Copyhold; property held by copy of court roll, i.e. held of a manor.

Corporeal hereditaments; tangible property such as land and buildings.

Counterpart; a second copy of an indenture, exactly matching the first.

Covenant; an agreement entered into by one or more parties to a deed.

Curtilage; a yard or court belonging to a dwelling house.

Declaration of trust; process by which a person is made a trustee, including details of what the trust involves.

Deed poll; deed made and executed by only one party.

Defeasance; a deed which acted to cancel a recognizance of a statute staple.

Deforciant; the defendant in a final concord.

Demandant; person/group attempting to recover property in a common recovery.

Demise; lease.

Determination; ceasing of provisions within a deed.

Devise; to transfer property through a will.

Devisee; someone receiving property from a will.

Dower; a widow's right to one third of her late husband's property.

Easement; a right or a privilege over property, e.g. a right of way.

Encumbrance; something affecting title to property, e.g. a mortgage or entail.

Endorsement; something written on the back of a deed.

Enrolment; copy of a deed kept on a court roll.

Entail; the settlement of property so that it must descend in a specified manner, for example from father to eldest son or husband to wife; the property must not be sold or otherwise disposed of.

Equity of redemption; the right of a mortgagor to redeem the property he has mortgaged; this right could be passed to a third party.

Executor/executrix; person appointed to carry out the provisions of a will; an executor is male, executrix female.

Exemplification; a formal copy of a deed, normally issued with a seal of court; most commonly a common recovery, but sometimes a fine.

Fee/fee simple; absolute possession of freehold land.

Feoffee; a trustee who holds land without specified conditions.

Feoffment; a means of conveying property, technically by a ceremony called livery of seizin.

Final concord; record of a collusive court case in which the plaintiff demanded property from the deforciant; usually used as a further way to prove title following a feoffment.

Fine; another term for a final concord; OR a sum of money paid for the granting of a lease or admission to copyhold

Freehold; land held in fee simple.

Gift; the transfer of real property in medieval times; the term was used even if no money changed hands.

Grant; means of transferring property.

Grantee; person to whom something is granted.

Grantor; person who grants something to another.

Incorporeal hereditaments; intangible property, such as rights and privileges.

Indenture; a type of deed which had an 'indented' top; usually two copied prepared, one to be kept by each party.

Intestacy; act of dying without having made a will.

Lease; a grant of property for a specified amount of time, usually a term of years.

Leasehold; property held by means of a lease.

Lease and release; a means of conveying property; a lease was granted for a year, and the following day the lessor or grantor's rights of ownership were released in return for a consideration.

Lessee; person to whom a lease was granted.

Lessor; person granting a lease.

Letter of attorney; document allowing one named party to act on behalf of another.

Letters patent; a form of royal grant.

Livery of seizin; the delivery of possession of freehold property.

Memorandum; note summarising the terms of a particular transaction; often endorsed on deeds.

Messuage; term used for a property, often a dwelling house.

Moiety; half of a property.

Mortgage; a loan secured by property temporarily transferred from mortgagor to mortgagee.

Mortgagee; person lending money in a mortgage.

Mortgagor; person borrowing money in a mortgage.

Partition; division of property between two or more interested parties.

Parties; a person, group or organisation playing one of the roles in the transaction recorded by a deed, e.g. as lessor/lessee, seller/purchaser etc.

Plaintiff; the person/group demanding property in a final concord.

Portiona; share of property allotted to an individual or group.

Probate; the process of establishing that a will is valid.

Quit claim; deed renouncing any rights or interests in property.

Recital; the repetition of a previous event or deed which may affect property being transferred; the event or deed is 'recited' at the beginning of the new deed; a recital is always introduced by the word 'whereas'.

Recognizance; a strong form of a bond, normally cancelled by a defeasance.

Remainder; an estate in expectation, i.e. the words which indicate that a person will inherit, e.g. the property is transferred to A and his heirs, and in the event of there being no heirs, the remainder to B (therefore B will inherit instead).

Reversion; the return of a leased property to the original owner after the lease has expired.

Seizin; possession of freehold property.

Settlement; transfer of property to trustees, for specified purposes.

Statute staplea; strong form of bond, normally cancelled by a defeasance.

Surrender; the return of leasehold or copyhold property to the lessor or lord of the manor.

Tenant to the praecipea; third party in a common recovery to whom property is conveyed in name in order for it to be recovered.

Tenementa; description of property, usually including a building; a messuage may be divided into two tenements.

Tenure; the way in which property is held e.g. freehold tenure, leasehold tenure.

Testator/testatrix; person writing a will; a testator is male, a testatrix female.

Title; the ownership of property.

Trust; holding property according to specified conditions, e.g. to administer or manage the estate and pay the profits to another, perhaps an underage heir.

Trustee; the person holding property in trust.

Uses; the purposes for which a property is held in trust by a trustee - usually specified in a settlement.

Vouchee; person summoned in a common recovery to give proof of title to property.

Wardship; feudal right of a lord to custody of his tenant's heir whilst a minor.

Warranty; an undertaking by a grantor to support a new owner's rights to property transferred.

Whereas; word which marks the beginning of a recital in a deed.

Details of entire Latin phrases found in deeds

Ad quod hoc presens scriptum pervenerit; to whom this present writing shall come

Dedi, concessi et hac presenti carta confirmavi; have given, granted and by this my present charter have confirmed

Concessit et dimisit; have conceded and leased

Cum pertinentiis; with appurtenances

Data apud (name of place and date); dated at

De me et heredibus meis; from me and my heirs

Ex parte altera; on the other part

Ex parte una; on the one part

Firmiter teneri et obligari; am firmly bound and obliged

Habendum et tenendum; to have and to hold

Hec est finalis concordia; this is the final concord

Hec indentura facta inter; this indenture made between

Hec conventio facta inter; this agreement made between

His testibus (list of names); these being witness

Imperpetuum / in perpetuum; forever

In cuius testimonium huic presenti carte sigillum meum apposui; in witness of which I have attached my seal to this present charter

Noverint universi per presentes me; know all men by these presents that I

Remisse, relaxasse et quietclamasse; have remised, relaxed and quitclaimed

Sciant presentes et futuri; know (all men) at present and in future

Sibi et heredibus suis; to him/her and his/her heirs

Trademark Titles

Manorial Lordships

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