Manorial Lordships

Professional Researchers
&
Specialist Manorial Property Agents

Practice Guide on Manors

Contents

1.Introduction
2.Lordship titles
3.Manorial land
4.Manorial rights
5. Registered franchises
6. Franchises Introduction
7. Nature of franchises
8. Registration of franchises
9. Affecting franchises

1. Introduction

Manors are of ancient origin dating from before Norman times. The extent of the manor was usually determined by the original grant from the Crown or superior lord. A manor was self-contained with its own customs and rights within its defined area.

There are three separate elements of manors:

lordship of the manor: whoever owns the lordship of the manor is entitled to refer to themselves as lord of that manor, for example, Lord of the Manor of Keswick
manorial land: because a manor was a defined area it included the physical land within that area. Such land could either be freehold or leasehold
manorial rights: rights which were part and parcel of the manorial title and which were usually kept by the lord on disposal of parts of the manorial land, for example, the right to hunt, shoot or fish

These elements may exist separately or be combined. The lordship title cannot be subdivided, but the manorial land and the manorial rights can be.

Confusion can be caused, as ‘manor’ can refer to either the lordship and/or the manorial land.

2. Lordship titles

2.1 Records held by HM Land Registry

The lordship of the manor is simply the title by which the lord of the manor is known. In many cases the title may no longer have any land or rights attached to it. Because of its origin and lack of physical substance, it is known as an ‘incorporeal hereditament’. Incorporeal hereditament means ‘an interest having no physical existence’.

Before 13 October 2003, being the commencement of the Land Registration Act 2002, it was possible to register these lordship titles. However, the registration was always voluntary and most did not seek to register the lordship title. HM Land Registry still keep an index of registered lordship titles.

Each registered title has an individual register. This will contain the name and address of the current registered proprietor, whom you may contact with any enquiries about the manorial interests (if any) that affect the land in question. Because of their nature, lordship titles do not have title plans and we do not hold any definitive record of the extent of the original manor.

2.2 Registration under the Land Registration Act 2002

Since 13 October 2003, it is no longer possible to make an application for the first registration of a lordship title. However, dealings with existing registered titles are subject to compulsory registration. This includes the grant of a lease (of any term) out of a registered lordship title.

2.3 De-registration

The registered proprietor of a lordship title can apply for the title to be de-registered (section 119 of the Land Registration Act 2002). In this event the lordship title will continue to exist off the register.

3. Manorial land

Manorial land is the land that was originally part of the landholdings of the lordship of the manor and has not been transferred separately from the lordship title. Manorial land can be extensive, or it can be a collection of scattered small pieces of land, which may cover a large area.

Manorial land is subject to compulsory registration in the same way as any other physical (corporeal) land.

Use a HM Land Registry Form SIM to find out if land is registered or subject to a pending application for first registration.

If you do not require indemnity provisions in respect of an index map search you could consider using MapSearch. This service is available free of charge for Business e-services customers who have portal access and provides immediate search results.

4. Manorial rights

4.1 Lordship title may not have the benefit of rights

A lord of the manor may exercise certain rights usually known as ‘manorial incidents’. Such rights could no longer be created after 1925. The main manorial rights can be summarised as:

the lord’s sporting rights
the lord’s or tenant’s rights to mines or minerals
the lord’s right to hold fairs and markets
the lord’s or tenant’s liability for the construction, maintenance and repair of dykes, ditches, canals and other works

These are just examples and it does not necessarily follow that such rights are legally exercisable. Registered lordship titles usually make no reference to any manorial incidents in the register. It may be that the benefit of the rights was not included in an earlier sale of the lordship title.

4.2 Land subject to rights

When registering a property for the first time, we may make an entry in the property register if it appears that the land may still be subject to manorial rights. This may be the case if the title deeds reveal that the land was former copyhold (ie held of the lord of the manor) and the rights were preserved on enfranchisement (when the title was converted to freehold).

4.3 Effect of Land Registration Act 2002

Under the Land Registration Act 2002 manorial rights are categorised as overriding interests, so a landowner takes subject to them even if they are not mentioned in their register. However, under section 117 of the Land Registration Act 2002 these rights will lose their overriding status after 12 October 2013 (10 years after the Act came into force). Where any manorial rights have not been protected by notice or caution against first registration before 13 October 2013, they do not automatically cease to exist on that date. The position is set out in The land was registered after 12 October 2013 and The land was registered before 13 October 2013.

Applicants have a duty to disclose manorial rights on all first registrations or dispositions of registered land.

Somebody with the benefit can apply for the existence of manorial incidents to be noted in the register of a title that is subject to them. The applicant must satisfy HM Land Registry of the existence of the rights. No fee is payable.

4.3.1 The land was registered after 12 October 2013

Prior to first registration the legal owner of the land will be bound by any manorial rights because they are legal interests. On first registration HM Land Registry will hold the estate free of manorial rights unless they are protected by notice at the time of first registration.

4.3.2 The land was registered with HM Land Registry before 13 October 2013

Even if the interest has not been protected by the entry of a notice in the register the land will remain subject to it. But, unless such a notice is entered, a person who acquires the registered estate for valuable consideration by way of registrable disposition after 12 October 2013 will take free from that interest (section 29 of the Land Registration Act 2002). Until such a disposition is registered the person having the benefit of the interest may apply to protect it by entry of notice.

5. Registered franchises and registered manors

HM Land Registry keeps an index of verbal descriptions of registered franchises that are relating franchises and of registered manors (rule 10(b) of the Land Registration Rules 2003).

Any person may apply, online for an official search of the index (rule 146 of the Land Registration Rules 2003). The certificate of result will show whether any registered relating franchise or manor relates to the administrative area(s) searched together with the title numbers that affect and the type of registration.

5.1 What constitutes a franchise

A franchise is a right or privilege granted by the Crown. Examples include the right to take a toll or the right to hold a fair or market. It is an intangible right. It does not involve ownership of the physical land and is separate from any freehold or leasehold interests in the land itself. In legal terms, it is an incorporeal hereditament. The Land Registration Act 2002 permits the registration of a franchise with its own title. A franchise in this context does not include any commercial/trading rights or creation of a chartered corporation that have no direct effect on property.

6. Introduction

One form of franchise is a right granted by the Crown or, to use the classic definition, “a royal privilege or branch of the royal prerogative subsisting in the hands of a subject, by grant from the King”. See, for example, Spook Erection Ltd v Secretary of State for the Environment [1989] QB 300, 305.

7. Nature of franchise

A franchise requires a grant from the Crown in the form of a charter or letters patent. It may also be claimed by prescription (which presupposes a grant that has been lost).

It is likely that franchises were also validly granted in the past by certain Lords who had palatine powers (“jura regalia”) within their Lordships. These are the Earls of Chester, the Earls and Dukes of Lancaster, the Earls and Dukes of Cornwall and the Bishops of Durham.

A franchise does not carry with it ownership of the physical land and is distinct from the freehold or leasehold estates in land.

The most common franchise is the right to hold a market or fair. A right of market confers on the owner a monopoly right, that is to say the exclusive right to hold markets within a radius of 6 ⅔ miles (Birmingham City Council v Anvil Fairs [1989] 1 WLR 312, 313). A fair is a market held at rarer intervals (Wyld v Silver [1963] Ch 243, 261).

A market franchise can be confiscated by the Crown or abolished by Act of Parliament (Wyld v Silver [1963] Chapters 243, 255 and 263).

A statute may abolish a market franchise by granting similar rights (Manchester Corpn v Lyons (1882) 22 Ch D 287). Where a statutory market has replaced a franchise market, it is not possible to register the original franchise market.

8. Registration of franchises

Formerly, a franchise was not capable of separate registration, but from 13 October 2003 it has been possible to register title to certain franchises. Registration of franchises is voluntary and the triggers to compulsory first registration listed in section 4 of the Land Registration Act 2002 do not apply.

To be capable of registration, a franchise must constitute a legal estate and be either:

perpetual
for a term of years absolute with more than seven years unexpired

Registration of a franchise does not prejudice a right of the Crown to forfeit the franchise (rule 196B of the Land Registration Rules 2003).

9. Affecting franchises and relating franchises

9.1 Types of franchise recognised by the Land Registration Act 2002

The Land Registration Rules 2003 distinguish between two types of franchise.

A franchise can be either:

an ‘affecting franchise’ – “a franchise which relates to a defined area of land and is an adverse right affecting, or capable of affecting, the title to an estate or charge”
a ‘relating franchise’ – “a franchise which is not an affecting franchise” (rule 217(1) of the Land Registration Rules 2003)

9.2 Relating franchises more common

We believe that most franchises are relating franchises.

In particular, there is strong authority for the view that a market franchise will be a relating franchise. Even if the market franchise relates to an area that can still be defined, it does not appear to give the franchise-holder the right to enter the land without the landowner’s consent (Attorney-General v Horner (1884) 14 QBD 245, 254 – 255, 260. (Affirmed (1885) 11 App Cas 66 HL)), and so does not confer property rights adversely affecting the title to any estate or charge.

9.3 Registration of a relating franchise

The Land Registration Rules 2003 allow for the registration of a relating franchise without a title plan (rule 5 of the Land Registration Rules 2003).

As a result such a franchise:

will be described verbally in the property register
will not be shown on the index map but will instead be recorded in the index of relating franchises and manors, which is a verbal index (rule 10 of the Land Registration Rules 2003)

You can only enter a notice in respect of the burden of an adverse right affecting the title to an estate or charge (sections 32(1) and 132(3)(b) of the Land Registration Act 2002). It follows that relating franchises cannot be noted in the titles of those registered estates falling within the area of the franchise.

It is HM Land Registry’s view that unregistered relating franchises have never been unregistered interests in land because they did not affect a registered estate so they were never an “overriding interest”. Therefore, unlike affecting franchises, they were not affected by section 117 of the Land Registration Act 2002.

But where a relating franchise has been enjoyed in a particular venue, such as by agreement with the landowner, then that agreement may be protected by notice in the register of the land subject to the right. Similarly a right akin to a prescriptive easement to enjoy the franchise in a particular venue may have been acquired. That, too, may be protected in the register of the land affected.

Nonetheless it is HM Land Registry’s view that even the acquisition of such a right does not turn a relating franchise into an affecting franchise.

9.4 Registration of an affecting franchise

If you have grounds for believing that the franchise you seek to register is an affecting franchise, and you wish us to register it as such, you must make this clear in your application for registration with HM Land Registry

If HM Land Registry believe it to be more likely than not, on the evidence supplied, that the franchise is an affecting franchise, HM Land Registry will:

serve notice on all the registered proprietors of estates in land, charges and relevant franchises within the defined area of the franchise
seek to give notice to the unregistered owners, chargees and relevant franchise-holders

It should be noted, however, that if a franchise is an affecting franchise, the defined area of land which it affects will be the defined area of land at the date of its grant. In the case of a presumed lost grant the defined area will depend upon the circumstances (Loose v Lynn Shellfish Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 846).

Only if there are no objections, or all the objections are groundless or disposed of (by agreement or proceedings), can the registration proceed and notice of the affecting franchise be entered in all the registered titles affected.

A registered affecting franchise will:

have a title plan
be shown on the index map

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