DECISIONS , STATUTES , & c ., CONCERNING ESTATES IN LAND . CHAPTER I. TENURES . CHARTER OF HENRY I, A . D . 1100 . ( Part omitted .) If any baron , earl, or other subject of mine , who holds possession from me, shall die , his heir shall not redeem his land , as was the custom in my brother 's time, but shall pay a just relief for the same ; and in like manner , too, the dependents of my barons shall pay a like relief for their · land to their lords. And if any baron or other subject of mine shall wish to give his daughter, his sister , his niece , or other female relative, ; in marriage , let him ask my permission on the matter but I will not take any of his property for granting my permission nor will I forbid his giving her in marriage except he wishes to give her to an enemy of . mine * , , MAGNA CHARTA OF KING JOHN signed July 15 A . D . 1215 . c . 2 . If any of our earls or barons or any other which hold of us in , , by chief knight ' s service die and at the time of his death his heir , , be of full age and owes us relief he shall have his inheritance by the , , ; old relief that is to say the heir or heirs of an earl for a whole earl , , , ; ; dom 1001 . the heir or heirs of a baron for a whole barony 100 marks , the heir or heirs of a knight for one whole knight ' s fee 100s . at the , ; most and he that has less shall give less according to the old custom of the fees . C . 3 . But if the heirs of any such be within age ( his lord shall not , , ; have ward of him nor of his land before taking homage of him and , after such an heir has been in ward ) when he comes to full age , ( that is 21 years ) he shall have his inheritance without relief and , , ; without fine ( so that if such an heir being within age be made 8 , knight yet nevertheless his land shall remain in the keeping of his lord unto the term aforesaid ) . part of c . 3 is in parentheses by The that was added the charter of Hen . , III issued in 1216 . , , C . 4 . The keeper of the land of such an heir being within age shall , not take of the lands of the heir but reasonable issues reasonable cus toms , and reasonable services , and that without destruction and waste of his men and his goods . And if we commit the custody of any ( 1 ) TENURES . such land to the sheriff , or to any other which is answerable to us for the issues of the same land , and he make destruction or waste of those things that he hath in custody , we will take of him amends and recom pense therefor , and the land shall be committed to two lawful and , discreet men of that fee which shall answer unto us for the issues of , the same land or unto him whom we will assign . And if we give or , sell to any man the custody of any such lands and he therein do make , ; destruction or waste he shall lose the same custody and it shall be , assigned to two lawful and discreet men of that fee who also in like manner shall be answerable to us as afore is said . , C . 5 . The keeper so long as he has the custody of the land of such , , , , , , up an heir shall keep the houses parks warrens ponds mills and , ; other things pertaining to the said land with the issues of the said land , , and he shall deliver to the heir when he comes to his full age all his , land stored with plows and all other things at the least as he received , it . All these things shall be observed in the custodies of archbishoprics bishoprics , abbeys , priories , churches , and dignities vacant , which apper , tain to us except that such custody shall not be sold . , C . 6 . Heirs shall be married without disparagement so also that before marriage the next of kin of the heir himself shall be consulted . “ in of But these provisions behalf the relations were omitted in the char ; ter of Henry III wherein the clause stands merely thus : ' haeredes mari tantur absque disparagatione ; meaning certainly , by haeredes , heirs female , to of ' as there are no traces before this be found the lord s claiming the mar , riage of heirs male " 2 Bl . Com . * 71 . , , , c . 7 . A widow after the death of her husband incontinent and without any difficulty , shall have her marriage , and her inheritance , and , , , shall give nothing for her dower her marriage or her inheritance ; which her husband and she held the day of the death of her husband and she shall tarry in the chief house of her husband by 40 days after , the death of her husband within which days her dower shall be assigned , ; her ( if it were not assigned her before or that the house be a castle and , if she depart from the castle then a competent house shall be pro , , vided for her in which she may honestly dwell until her dower be to ; her assigned as is aforesaid and she shall have in the meantime her ; reasonable estovers of the common ) ſand for her dower shall be assigned unto her the third part of all the lands of her husband which , were his during coverture except she were endowed of less at the church door ] . The part of c . 7 in parentheses was added by the charter of Hen . III ; in . in by issued in 1216 the part brackets was added the charter issued 1217 , C . 8 . No widow shall be distrained to give herself in marriage never theless she shall find surety that she shall not marry without our license , and assent if she hold of us nor without the assent of the lord if she hold of another . c . 9 . Neither we nor our bailiffs will seize any land or rent for any debt while the chattels of the debtor are sufficient for the payment of TENURES . 3 ; be of the debt nor shall the sureties the debtor distrained while the ; if principal to pay principal debtor is able the debt and the debtor fail , , it to discharge of having in payment the debt not wherewith the sureties , , shall answer for the debt and if they be willing they shall have the to be lands and the rents of the debtor until satisfaction made them for the debt which they had before paid for him , unless the principal debtor can show himself acquitted thereof against the said sureties . by C . 12 . Let no escuages nor aids be levied in our kingdom if not , , the common council of our kingdom except to ransom our body make , our first born son a knight and to our first born daughter for marriage , once and for these nothing shall be made but a reasonable aid . , " provision in But this was omitted Henry III ' s charter and the same , I 2d; oppressions were continued till the 25 Edward when the statute called ; confirmatio chartarum was enacted which in this respect revived King his , John ' s charter by ordaining that none but the ancient aids should be ved , , taken . ” 2 Bl . Com . 64 . See also charter of Henry III c . 44 below . rics, c . 15 . give to anyone to an per We will not leave for the future take aid , , of his own freemen except for redeeming his own body and for making , , his eldest son a knight marrying daughter that and for once his eldest and not that unless it be a reasonable aid . c . 16 . to do a None shall be distrained more service for knight ' s har , , fee any is . zari nor for other tenement than what due from thence , c . 17 . pleas be in nale , Common shall not follow our court but shall held nar any certain place . c . 32 . We will not hold the lands of them that be convict of felony but one year and one day and then those lands shall be delivered to the and of lord . and the fee , , , by by , C . 37 . If any do hold of us fee - farm or socage or burgage ice , and he holds lands of another by knight ' s service we will not have the , , custody of his heir nor of his land which is held of the fee of another , , ; by reason of that fee farm socage or burgage neither will we have , , , the custody of such fee - farm or socage or burgage except knight ' s service be due to us out of the same fee - farm . We will not have the , , by custody of the heir or of any land occasion of any petit sergeanty , , by that any man holds of us service to pay a knife an arrow or the like . , MAGNA CHARTA HENRY III 1217( ) . C . 39 . No freeman from henceforth shall give or sell any more of his land but so that of the residue of the lands the lord of the fee may have the service due him which belongs to the fee . Upon" which act I have heard great question made whether the feoff ; ments made against the statute were voidable or no and some have said , that the statute intended not to avoid the feoffments but implicate to direct , , the tenure viz . that the tenant should not enfeoff another of parcel to , hold of the chief lord ( that is of the next lord ) but to hold of himself and then the lord may distrain in every part for his whole service without any prejudice unto him .