Star.
London, England, 1801-08-20 00:00:00

ifSSIZES, &e;

ESSTX ASSTZES.-CHELMSFORD, PLY 24.
Die em dem. PAL MEN V. BLOOMFIELD.
DFSCEN'T OF LANDS.

This was an Action of Ljeament, to recover
certain Copyhold Lands.
Mr. CARROW laid, he was Connfel for the Lef-
for of the Plaintiff, and he thonld Rate the cafe as
Ihortly as poflible, as it was a quellion of law,
rather than of fuel, namely:—whether an Ell ate
ihould defcend to him who was the Heir at Law,
or whether, by the Copyhold Cullom of the Ma-
nor in which it was fituated, the Child of the
youngeft Daughter thould not be preferred to the
Child of the eldelt Son? He fhould fubmit ti at
the defcent mull be governed by the Common
Law, unlefs a clear Cullom to the contrart
could he eft:if:abed controuling the Commotf
Law. He admitted it might be pollible for the
King's Serjeant to thew, that, in cafe of a firft
defcent, loch a cuftom might prevail; hut he
fhould infift, however that might be, it could not
extend further ; betides, he thould thew inftances
to the contrary, and if he did, the cullom was de-
flroyed, for it was neceffary it fhould have been
uniform and fixed. He thould proceed to the
proof of the cafe, referving any further obferva.
bons till after he had heard his Learned Friend's
defence. _ .

It was admitted between the parties that the
Premifes it ere within the Manor of Lawford ; but
Daniel Sider, the original Purchafer, died, felled
of the fame, according to the cultom of the Manor,
about the month of September, 1765, inteflate and
without ilfuc, leaving Roger Sider, his nephew,
and Mary Bloomfield, his niece; that Roger was
the only fon and heir of Roger Sider, the eldell
brother of Daniel Sider, and Mary Bloomfield, the
only child and heirefs of Henry Sider, the youngell
brother of Daniel ; that on the death of Daniel,
Roger entered on the Eflate, and was admitted
thereto as nephew and heir of Daniel; that loon
after the faid entry, John Bloomfield, in right of
his wife, Mary, claimed the Premifes, and brought
au AEtion of Ejeament in the Court of Common
Pleas, in the year 1767, in which there was a Ver-
did for the Defendant. That Roger in the year
1799 devifed the Mate to William Palmer, the
Leffor of the Plaintiff, having previoufly furren•
dered the fame to the ufe of his lafi Will. That
Palmer on his death entered and was admitted,
and received the Rents till he was turned out by
the Sheriff, under a Writ of Poffeflion. That af-
ter the death of Roger Sider, John, and Mary
Bloomfield, who claimed as reprefentative and
heirefs of Henry, the younger Brother of Daniel,
brought another Aelion ofEjedment in 1781, in
which theft was a Verdi& in their favour; that
loon after William Palmer brought an Aiftion to
recover back the Premifes, which was tried, and
a Verdi& given for the Defendant; that after the
recovery by Bloomfield and his wifeithey entered,
but Mary died before (he was admitted, and Henry
Sider Bloomfield, her fon and heir, was after-
wards admitted as the great nephew and heir of
Daniel Sider.—!.lr. Gerrow faid he was dcfirous
of bringing a quellion of this fort to a point; the
only point in dilpute was, whether the defcendants
of a younger :idler were to be preferred to thofe
of an elder Brother? he had to contend that
the cuhlom was confined to hauls, and did not
extend to collaterals.

Mr. Jurlice C ROSE obferved, that the queftion
was, whether the Tenure by the Cullom was not
in the nature of Borough Englifh, bLwhich, if the
father died, his ) oungeft fon took his elate ?
Mr. Sergeant SH pH SIM admitted, that by the
Law of England, except in the County of Kent,
where gavelkind prevailed, it was enough for a
man claiming an eftate to fay his father or uncle
had died (cured of it, and that he was his oldeft fon
and heir. But in the prefent cafe it had been al-
ready eftablithed upon evidence, that in the manor
of Lawford, the youngeft fon, brother, or nephew,
took by dercent in preference to the eldell A Ju-
ry had fo found the raft, and in confequence of
their verdift the Plaintiff had been turned out.—
Another Jury had afterwards confirmed that ver-
diet, and the Defendants had been quietly in pof-
felßon of the rents and profits ; and had not the
prefent aftion been brought juft at the time it was,
twenty years would have clzpfed, and the Plain-
tiff would have been driven to his Writ of Right.
The cultotn for which he fhould contend in oppo-
fition to the common law of the country was by
no means fingular, for there were a great number
of copyholds in which Borough Englifh prevailed.
His Learned Friend and his Clients knew, that
with regard to the manor of Lawford, the right of
the youngelt branch of a family to inherit before
the chief, had been conftant and invariable, and
that by the cuftom it bad not been confined to the
youngeft fon, hut applied to remoter defcents.—
The principle on which he fhould feel him fell war-
ranted in ;Acing for a verdil was, that if he prov-
ed the cuilum to have exifted in ancient times, no-
thing afterwards could ever alter it—if he proved
that it prevailed in the reigns of King Henry VIII.
and Queen Elizabeth, no compaft between the
Lords and the Tenants could ever have got rid of
it. A cuftom of a manor could not be furrender•
ed like a, right of common ; nothing but the power
of Parliament could alter the tenure and though
a thoufand inflances were produced in contradic-
tion to a cultom, they would not lipify. A cur-
torn proved to have exifted as far back as Richard
I. previous to the Holy War, was like a lay, of the
Mcdcs and Perfians. The Court-Rolls of the ma-
nor of I.r.n lord would prove this cuftorn to have
been oval with that King, and would carry it
downward to more modern times. [The Learn-
ed Setjeant proceeded to Rate the entries on the
Rolls of the Manor, as we (hall detail them in'the
evidence, obrc: sing, that in the lisle of fu many
age; there were neeelfarily charms in the Records,
hich prevented his g v ing s regularferies cfproof.)
Mr. Round, Steward of the Manor, produced
the Court Rods.

firft entry was in the t sth of Elizabeth.—
It was prefcmLd by the homage that Edward
Tl:nric died, of certain lands, and that Tho-
mas Thome, his yowler brother, anJ next heir,

41E,
was admitted to thief, according to the cttltom oil
the Manor, &c.
40th Elizabeth. It was prefented that John
Ely died, feifed of certain hinds which he had
taken as heir to his mother, Rachael Ely ; and that
after his death Thomas Manning, ettmnrpilus junior
& proximui hires, was admitted, and afterwards
fun-endued them to George Manning, his elder
brother. There were fcveral other cut: les in fub-
fequent reigns, proved to the fame (Ire&
Upon the Crofs.ezarnination of Mr. Round, by
the plaintiff's Counfel, it appeared the Rolls con-
tained the following entries :
19th Charles 11. The homage prefent the death
of Daniel Sydney,•and the admiffion of John Sp.!.
ney,frater maximur & Arra.
6th Q.2.een Ann. The homage prefent the death
of Stephen Clarke ; and Robert Clarke, rjus !rater
nails maximus & bore!, was admitted according to
the cuftom of the Manor.
3d November, 1758. The homage prefent that
Thomas Mafon died, feifed cf certain Lands, and
that John Mafon, his eld.:11 nephew and heir, was
admitted.
Mr. Serjeant SHEPHERD addrefred the Jury, in
reply to the evidence of the more modern entries,
by which it appeared the elder brothers and ne-
phews had been admitted as heirs. He founded
the whole of his argument upon thefe entries being
fubfecinent to the reign Of Elizabeth, at which
time he contended he had eftablinsed the cuftom
in favour of the younger branches, and obferved,
that the innovation mutt have arifen inconfequence
of the Rolls not having been regularly kept, and
the Rewards not having given themfelves the trou-
ble to refer to the ancient ones to afcertain what
the cuftom was. He referred to his former argil.
ment, and infilled that having ellablifhed the cuf-
tom in the reign of Elizabeth, no aa done after-
wards could vary it.
Mr. Gmutow replied, and maintained that the
few entries produced at fo remote a period as the
reign of Elizabeth, were not fuflicient to fet up
a cuftom in oppufttion to the general law of the
land. .

Mr. Jurtice GROSE faid he was glad to have ob-
ferved the uncommon attention the Jury had paid
to this cafe. The queftion was a fhort and fimple
one ;—it was a mere matter of raft as to the ezift-
ence of a particular cuftom. With regard to the
general law there could be no doubt, for every one
knew that if a man died poffeffei of an eftate, his
:Weft fon fucceeded to it, in preference to the
younger! : there was as little doubt that in many
places a cuftom called Borough Englifh prevailed,
by which the youngeß fon took, in eaclufion of
the eldeft ; but fucfi a curt= was to be conftrued
ftridly, and if the words were, that the youngeß
brother fhould take, it did not apply to any re-
moter defcent. The learned Judge recapitulated
the entries read on the part of the plaintiff and de-
fendant, and obferved, that the eziftence of the
cuftom was warranted by the admiflions in the
reign of Elizabeth, and whatever was the cnftorn
at that time mott certainly waathe fame now. Af-
ter commenting at great length on the evidence
and arguments ofCounfel,he Rated, that the whole
refolved itlelf into the tingle queftion, Whether the
cqttom was well proved or not ? If the Jury
were fatisfied there had at any time ezified a cuf-
tom in oppofition to the Common Law, their
verdift would be for the Defendant ; if, on the
contrary. they thought the entries in the reign of
Elizabeth were not fufficient proof, they would
find for the Plaintiff, with one (hitting damages.
The Jury retired from the box fome time, and
returned a verdi& for the Defendant, thereby eßa-
blifhing the Cullom of the Manor in favour of the
younger Defcendants.

On Saturday Jail was executed on the Caftle
Hill, Norwich, purfuant to his fentence, Henry
Lawn, aged 41, for burglary and horfe-healing.
He died refigned and penitent for the offences he
acknowledged to have been guilty of, but denied
to the lan having committei thok for which he
fuffered. Property dolen at the time of the burg-
laiT, was found, and the in rfe had alto been feen
in his poffelLon, but which he declared he had re-
ceived from a man who.had abfconded. He has
left a wife and fix children to lament his untimely
end. After the fentence of the law, his body was
delivered to his friends for interment. Lavm, at
the death of the prefent poffeffor, would have en-
joyed a confiderable property, which is entailed on
his children.

Saturday William Baldwin (a foldier in the 3d
regiment of Dragoons) was executed at Ipfwich,
for robbing Mr. Grofe on the highway, purfuant
to his fentencc at the hitt affixes. His behaviour
was firm and penitent, yet he whited in his inno-
cence of the offence for which he filtered to the
LA, although he acknowledged being along with
the party who committed the robbery. He de-
clared he was info complete a hate of intoxication,
as to be ignorant not only of the commiton of the
faft, but of the intention to perpetrate it. He was
a native of Rufhlsury, in Shroilliire.
An opulent clothier in Yorkfhire was laft week
committed to York Cattle, charged with giving
rifon to his reputed daughter, a fine girl near
tour years old, and by which he occationed the lit-
tle innocent's death.

On Monday re'nnight a coach was overfet on
Shields Road, near Newcaßle, from the honks
taking fright, and a gentleman within had one of
his arms broken.
On Friday LA a man was found dead on Pen.
Common m Kent ; his body was taken to the
Crocked Bat public-bottle, joining the Common,
where the Jury fat. The verdict was brought in
—&c into! Death.

The following accident happened on Sydenham
Common on Monday WI :—One of the Royal
Eafi-India Volunteers being iil the aft of ramming
down his charge, preparatory to his tiring at the
target, the nmiket ticcidentally went off, and (hot
his thumb away. Jt is imagined that he brought
his piece down on the full cock after pritning.
A woman, an attendant in St. Bartholomew's
liofpital, was committed to Neu-gate for trial, for
embezzling lineraheets, and other at tick:, belong-
ing to the hofpitAl, which flse pledged.

THE ITAItIVIA'S
PACKWOob'S P3fte, Sir, and Strop,
I adopt in my Clop.
12:17.0: f :01116 38 pit ao they CAM
Ainrt won the Ceder'. fzars
VhenT.tyl•,m their 'beer!
P.\.6.' ono', ,tt your m .n
No. 16, Gme..hui,Ml.tri.ei,
'

ECCLESIASTICAL PIiFFERNIVVT.i.

The Right R ev. th.• Lord &lb.'? Drc.:,,.rc ha. •
to appoint the Rev. Roh.:rt n.• i.. It. ei Tr ;:y ,4.
Cambridge, and Ailiftuot Pie. eller at St. :1,1411,1's
of his Lordfl.ip's Domeltic Chaplains. .
Friday laR, the Rev. Thomas G: Taylor, ,•
Trinity College, Cambridge, was ehofen Ledo ter of
of Dedham, Elie:, on the refigration of th. Re, I )r.G•:r,•:•-w;,r
The Rev. George Betts, cf Wortham, Suffolk, is ...nib
the I.ord Bilhop of Litchfield and Coventry, to the Pea,,•.:
Barwick and Whittington, in the cathedral of I sitchheki.

DIVIDENDS.
Sept. 9. Robert Hampton, of Rotherham, Voridhire, _
keeper, at eleven, at the Spread Eagle Inn, in 113•.;1.....

Ditrch;Manchefter.
Sept. 2t. John Stringer, of Stockport, Cheshire, cotton-mane.
Indium, at eleven, at the White Lion Inn, Stockp,rt.
Sept. p. Jofeph Bceilon, of Manehefter, merchant, at thrcc, a.
Spencer's Tavern, Manchefter.
Sept. to. John Salmon, of Sunderland near the Sea, Dne..in
coal-fitter, at twelve, at the Caillc Eden Inn, at elide -et
Sept, re. Joule Gard, of North Tauton, Dcvoneure,merch.
at four, at Plaillips's Hotel, Exeter.
Odtober 22. James Haley Needham; of St. Neot's, Humirg.
doulhire, draper, at eleven, at the Falcon Inn. St. Nrot',
Sept. 8. Abraham Taylor, of Weniozit-Itreet, Old-Ilrect,
Lrn-
don, thimble-maker, at ten, at Guildhall.