MANOR. Th, district of a lord and his non noble feudal dependents. The term began to be used in England after the Norman conquest, but the system existed in Anglo-Saxon tittles. A manor consisted of two parts: (1) The inland (demesne) or home-estate, which the lord held in his own hands, and upon which his house was built. 12) The outland (geneatland), which was held by tenants for rent or for service performed for the lord on the island. The tenants were usually all villeins. who dwelt together in vil lages and lived ordinarily by agriculture. It is held by writers like Ilneist, Stubbs, and Freeman that originally there were few manors, hut they gradually increased in number, until in the tenth century the prevailing system of society was that of manors with dependent peasants. In 1tiS3 a new theory was advanced.by Frederic. See Bohm. namely, that during the whole Anglo-Sax on period the mass of the population was servile, and 111;11 the invaders copied the manor system from the Boman villa. Thu., there are two schools of historians at present. the one believing the economie development of England to have proceeded from free village communities to man ors, and the other holding that the process was the reverse.
in the thirteenth century the lord of the manor often was removed three degrees, sometimes even five degrees, in the feudal scale from the king, since the creation of new manors by subinfeuda tion was a recognized practice. Moreover, a lord might hold several manors. Sir Edward Coke (1532-1634) formulated the theory that a manor must have at least two freehold tenants, so that a Court Baron (q.v.) could be held. The earlier practice, however, according to ,Maitland, knew no such distinction. and many manors must have had only villeins occupying the land.
Two important statutes put a check upon the development of the manorial system. which has since declined to a mere shadow. The Statute of Marlborough, in 120, had the effect of pre venting the establishment of new Courts Baron, and the famous statute of Westminster iii.. in 1290, known as the statute Quit, Emptoms, made it lawful for a freehold tenant to sell his lands, and provided that the purchaser should hold of the chief lord of the manor, instead of his ven dor. and thus prevented further snbinfendation.
After this legislation it became customary to parcel the land out in individual holdings, and with the decay of the manorial system, the Inter conception, as linking Ile immediate freehold tenant or 'tenant paravair by a shortening feu dal chain to the king, became predominant.
Lands in a manor were parceled out to freehold and leasehold tenants, and the freeholders might hold by any form of feudal tenure: as by 'Knight's service.' in free and eommon socage,' etc. The manors were the great reservoirs of customary law, and each manor modified the common law of land, and might modify the com mon tenures to conform to its ancient customs. These customs, not being a part of the common law of the kingdom, were originally not cogniz able by the common law courts, but were de termined or 'found,' and administered. as the local law of each manor, by its own courts. The principal one of these, and the one which came in the course of time to be regarded as the prin eipal characteristic. and (as Lord Coke called it) the "chief prop" of the manor, was the Court Baron. This court exercised the civil jurisdietion vested in the lord of the manor, and the Court Leet took cognizance of criminal causes. No new manors have been created in England since the legislation above referred to. but many old man ors still exist. They may be extinguished by the lord purchasing the lands of his freehold tenants, so that there will be no one to hold the Court Baron without which a manor ceases to exist.
The manorial system was introduced into New York, when under the English rule. and substan tially the .same peculiar customs. etc., prevailed as in England at that time. Manorial courts were established and the system was the basis of the land tenures. Some of these manors gave names to districts, which are preserved to the present day. as Pelham Manor. Van Cortlandt Manor. etc. As the manorial system was incon sistent with the institutions of the United States, it ceased to exist after the separation from Eng land.
The various views held by historical scholars will be found by consulting the following authori ties: Stubbs, Constitutional (listory of England, vol. i. (fith ed., Oxford. IS117) : Maitland, Select Pleos in I(anorial Courts (London. ISS9) : An drews. The Old English Hanor(Baltimore, Seebolun, Thr English Village Community (4th ed., London, 1800) ; Ashley. An Introduction to English Economic History and Theory (2 vols., London, 1588-93). See the articles EUDALISM ; TENURE.