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
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