The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1805-11-12

os'Si 10 maze way the follow
ing report Of 4 r,ot in.ereang deciion given Ian
1hnrlday in the Court of Appeals. To the polite.
neis OF Nir Gail we indebted for the ufe of the
notes, which he took on that occa!ion: No doub,
an ampler aaten,ent will appear in his valuable re-
port OF cafes bur the following nun ufice for the
columns of our paper.
COURT OF APPEALS.
CPreieps Judges--Lyons Fleming, Darlington,
Roane. Judge Tucker did net Il. ON ,he cafe b.;pg
the proprietor OF a lot in WincheRer)
JAMES NJ. MARSHALL. Appellant.
DANIEL CONRAD, Appellee.
THIS was fuit for the back-rcnt and rent of
lot OF Ground in the town OF Winchester II w.s
.ried IN the DitrittCourt of Wincheer, which gave
JUDGMENT tor the defendant: And The plaintiff APP
Peaied to this court. The PRINCIPAL facts are
That THONGS Lord Fairfax had all the land GRANT.
ed to aim by the King of England, within the bounds
OF the Nothern Neck that at his own expenCe he
Kept an Office within that territory for granting I'M
appropriated land certain terms the PRINCIPAL of
Which were, the payment of esssesfiiou of 1874
per ioo acres and the rroai9n OF one milling Tor
every SO acres that this qise was KEEP. omen from,
l7fSto the time of his death in Dec. t7si. dyr;n,
which the rents reerved by him were said 70 him ss
they accrued: That it likewiie' the cutiom OF
the government of Virginia to gran, land. w,hou,
tie Norhern Neck on the fame principal conditions
that the iaid one ihlling throughout fbet se,.
OF Virginia dencmnated quit-rent, until If was a.
oohhed III lI77, by act of aslenbly, and in the fame
manner, the laid ihiilng 70 denotninated in IN.
Northern Neck: That the old town of Vncbefler
m the Northern Neck !urseyed and laid off for
town IN 1859 by act of aGcnbv and tha, l. r rc
ceived 10 K herhg per lot, beiides reGrvat;on Of
rent OF ST iterng, which rent was loetimes called
gTound-rtnt, and fonetirnes oai.-,e,t Ly tho col,
,etors OF l.. F. and generally qlt-rent by the in
N he tn.nrr 4
y. N. deved all his nteret in its lands to the Reve
reno Denny Martin, condition of his taking tbepane
and arms OF Fairfax, which condition being oonplied
WITH he has become lawfully feed of the elfa,e DE-
vied: That the faid Denny Martin Fairfax is Pr;-
TIN iubject, and was born prior to the wear I77s
hat the nterett OF Denny Fairfax in all the lots and
rents IN the town of Wincheher has been cory.ye5 -
the plaintiff by deed which CONVEYS all the ira of
land belonging TO the proprietor OF the Northern Neck
with all the ntereit of the iaid Denny Fairfax what
ever iavng and excepting the manor of Leeds &c
and al the gtreD5 reterved grants of land in the
NJ Neck: that the lot mentioned in the declaration
was granted by l.. F. to James Lemon, under whom
the ociendant caiRls that compromise was entered
rso between the commonwealth of " and the mr.
claiers of the eate of D. M Fairfax. in tbe Co,jn,-
ing words, &c. that the reeryed on the reEen
lot have been unpaid for g years, and in 'Ss the
plaintiff demanded them, and that Their. was no dir
tres 10 be found, whereupon the plaintiff entered for
the forfeiture incurred for non-payment of the rem.
(Ca council for the appellant, Hay and Stuart for
the aPPelee)
OPINION OF THE COURT.
RoANE: Jadgc. The principal Object Of
this init is to try the title of the appellant to
rent OF 81 per annum, alledged to be due on a
lot IN the town of Winchefter, and clained By
him as grantee under Lord Fairfax. The faid
Fairfax having in his deed expressly refereed all
the oDaIl,nt hos,
if the court be of opinion that the rent in ouef.
ton IS quit-rent. Being clearly of opinion
that 1t IS quit-rent, he ihould conhne himfclf
principally TO that point.
1t is agreed in this cafe, that the rent of or
per hundred acres referved on lands granted in
the Northern Neck, and on thofe granted in the
other parts of Virginia before the revolution,
was III the!e places respectively, called quit.
rent but Mr.. Call, couniel for the appellant.
has made,a complete JaIo de f by appealing to
the EngliD idea of a quit-rent. He contends
and refers TO 81. Com. AZ. for authority, that
1t is eHtntial 20 qnt-rcnt that the land f,ould
be held under manor, and ALTO that on pay
ment of the rent, the tenant ihou!d 20 quit of all
further fervices. IF this be the true 1tandard.
then the laid 2E rent ia not legal quit-rent, g,
there never has been any in this country: for
l # the grant for land By Lord Fairfax makes
no mention whatever ola manor, and 2diy the
grant ny the governor of V. annexes other fer
vices, hetdcs the payment of the rent, VIZ the
cultivation and Improvement of the land. Eli
Their then Mr.. Call NUT give up the Enrliih
ttandard of quit-rent, or retraGt the conceliion
he has made.
They mult therefore refort TO rome othe- cri.
terion of quit-rent, fitted to the cafe of the
faid q. rents, and to the queaion before the
court. This criterion is either the bobnkor or
the legi?0tiye understanding ofthe fubjeet, for
long fuccellion of time.
according tothe popular acceptation, all tiofe
are quit.reatS, which were referved to the king
or proprietor, on an abJoiufe grant of zvaRe
land on grant for which an original pr;ice was
paid, generally denominated competition money {;
and on which trifing rent is rererved, as
mere fcudal acknowledgement of tenure. This
was the universal understanding of the fubiccf
as far as it related to- the 2c rent, becaufe that
rent was univerfal tbro' the country: and the
only reafon why the Sc rent was not equally
universal was, bccauie it was local in its opera-
ton. So far as it qUa5 known, that is in and
about Winchefter, it is agreed to have been pc
morally called quit-rent by the people and
ionletimes by Lord F's agents.
Jftherc be any general pafages in our L7zp,,
which teem 90 coRhne the idea of out-rcnt to
the 2E rent, we NUT attribute it to the fame
avGyf Of knowledge rCfoet1inr The e.;1,,co re