Afterwards it was sufficient if the site of a mansion at which the services had been reserved, or as it was called, the site of the manor, formed part of the demesnes ; and, at last, this vestige of the origin of the name of the estate was dispensed with, and if the lord retained any portion of the land, so that there would be some demesnes to which the seigniory over the freehold tenanta of the manor, and the services rendered by them, might continue to be appendant, the compound estate called a manor was not dissolved, whether it could be shown that a mansion had ever stood on the part of the demesnes or lands retained, or not, and even if the lord had aliened and severed from his demesnes the spot on which the mansion had once stood.
II. Nature and incidents of 3Ianors.—A manor is commonly said to consist of demesne, and services. It is quaintly, but perhaps more correctly stated by Fulbeck, that these " are time material causes of a manor ; for though there can be no manor unless, there be both demesnes and services, other things may also be members and parcel of a manor.
I. The demesnes are those lands within the manor, of which the lord Is seised. that is, of millet, he has the freehold, whether they are in his own occupation, or in that of his ttmanta at will, or his tenants for years. l'he tenants at will have either a common-law estate, holding at the joint will of the lessor and of the lessee, or a customary estate, holding at the will of the lord according to the custom of the manor. [Commis) The tenancy for years of lands within a manor ia, in modern times, usually a common-law estate, though in the assessionable manors, parcel of the duchy of Cornwall. customary estates for years still subsist (VIII.); and where a oupyholder sur renders for the aurrenderee a customary tenant for years of the portion of the demesnes so surrendered.
2. The services of a manor are, the rents, and other services, duo from freehold tenants holding of the manor. These serviced are annexed or appendant to the seigniory over the lands holden by such freehold tenants. The lands holden by the freeholdere of the manor are holden of the manor, but are nut trithiri, or pared of, the manor, though within the lord's fee, or numerial seigniory.
Copyhoide, being part of the demesnes, are not held of the manor, but are within and parcel of the manor.
The demesne lands were formerly called the inland, and the tone mental lauds, the outland, of the manor.
3. But though a perfeet legal manor cannot exist without demesnes and services, other incorporeal hereditamenta, which are not services, may be parcel of the manor, as advowsous, rights of common, rights of way, &c., and,under peculiar circumstances, even rents-beck and rents charge.
In general, the power of holding courts of justice, whether for the decision of criminal matters or for the determination of civil rights, can be exercised only under authority derived from the crown, either by actual grant or by prescription ; and in order to prevent usurpa tions of such a power, the crown may at any time issue process for the purpose of instituting an inquiry by what authority [Quo WARISANTO) a subject holds a court of justice. But it is a distinguishing feature of
the feudal system, to make civil jurisdiction necessarily, and criminal jurisdiction ordinarily, coextensive with tenure. Upon this principle there is inseparably incident to every manor a court-baron (curia bare num), being a court in which the freeholders of the manor are the Bolo judges, but in which the lord, by himself, or more commonly by his steward, presides. The jurisdiction of the court-baron extends over all personal actions in which the debt or damages sought to ho recovered are under 40s.; and real actions in respect of lauds held of the manor could not have been brought in any other court, except upon an allegation that the lord of the manor had in the particular instance granted nr abandoned his court to the king (quirt dominue remisit curianm). To a quo warrants therefore for holding a court baron, it is a sufficient answer—that the defendant has a manor. As this court was essential to the due administration of justice in questions respecting the right of property held of the manor arising amongst the lord's tenants, there could never have been a perfect manor without a sufficient number of freeholders to constitute the court-baron, which number must consist of three, or two at the least; three being neces sary where the litigation was between two of the freeholders.
4. Some things are popularly supposed to be incident to a manor, which have no necessary connection with it. Thus the ownership of wastes within the district over which the manor extends, is frequently called a meneeia/ right, though the right and interest of the lord in wastes, over which no acts of ownership can be shown to have been exercised by him, rests entirely upon the presumption in favour of the lord, arising out of the circumstance of his being the present owner of the demesne lands, and the former owner of the tenemental lands which adjoin such wastes. The same presumption would arise in favour of any other owner of an extensive district: It is however true that lords of manors in their original grants, both to their freehold and to their copyhold tenants, usually reserved the waste lands, giving to the freeholders and copyholders merely rights of common over the wastes. Hence it arises that, hi point of fact, manors, in proportion to their extent, frequently contain a much larger portion of wastes than other estates.