The sun. (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1905-1908, 1906-10-27

land They made use Of this until such time as
the new conditions made new laws necessary.
They did not 60 back of Statute IL Of Charles II
whereby all of the ancient tenures, except three
reduced to one general species OF tenure called
free and common sOcage. ~
This statute Of Charles III" says Blackstone,
was even greater acquisition to the civil prop
erty of the kingdom than Magma Charta itself.
since that only pruned the luxuriance that had
grown out of the military tenures and thereby pre-
served the vigor of them; but the statutes OF
Charles ii extirpated the whole and demolished
both root and branch SfGSsE E9BG 9kBsYD
But even this statute of Charles III which did
away with the ancient English tenures, such as
frank-tenements, villenages, primer-seizen, escui
tage grandysergeantry, tenure of cornage etc. stiH
had many ancient forms which were OF no use in q
free country. AS conditions changed, and the pas
sage of time showed the inutility of them, they
set aside by the adoption Of statute law which
defined the forms Of ttenures that were to obtain
in this democratic form OF government Under
republic there was no use In having tenure OF
pettsergeantry, which consisted OF holding lands
OF the king and rendering to hhim some small I'M
plemont of war; such as q bow, a sword or lance;
or tenure OF burgage, In which the king or some
other person is lord Of borough and the tenemenU
ar held by rent of a certain kind; or gavelkind,
in which the lands are held because OF fealty to
the overload BY a process of elimination land
tenures have been pruned Of the unnecessary forms
and in general terms, there are now existing put
two kinds of land tenures, a deed and lease.
Under the ancient English laws many forms
and cermonies were necessary for the purpose or
acquiring title by the various forms OF tenures
then in use One was that the person acquiring the
property should meet the person from whom ne
acquired 1t on the property ITSELF and In the pres
ence of witnesses, receive from him handful OF
earth taken from IL. sor a twig from tree or a
bush, donating that the land itself passed. There
were many other ancient forms and ceremonies
which are not now In use AS the world has prog
ressed in wisdom the method Of acquiring real or
personal property has been simplihed to meet the
modern conditions Of life Superhuous yerbiage,
Unnecessary forms and ceremonies have been dis
carded, the object being always to simplify the
transaction as much as possible }gaUe +.
The matter OF recording the title OF real prop.
erty was always regarded as very important ana
is to this day. There seemed to be no better way
70 Keep these records than by copying the instru-
inent Itself into book. kept at some public ONCE
IN charge Of competent officer. As the country
grew and the population Increased the transfers OF
property became more and more frequent and the
records In consequence Of It, became larger and
larger In extent Transactions covering the change
OF ownership of property in any given community
multiply as the years 60 by and these records De
come very vouminous. (, 4oifti
IL Is now no longer possible for Q person not
accustomed to tho work to 60 to the public records