hence have ariſen all the freehold tenants which hold of particular manors, and owe ſuit and ſervice to the ſame. The other ſpecies was called folk-land, which was held by no aſſurance in writing, but diſtributed among the common folk or people at the pleaſure of the lord, and reſumed at his diſcretion; being indeed land held in villenage, which we ſhall preſently deſcribe more at large. The reſidue of the manor, being uncultivated, was termed the lord's waſte, and ſerved for public roads, and for common of paſture to the lord and his tenants. Manors were formerly called baronies, as they ſtill are lordſhips: and each lord or baron was empowered to hold a domeſtic court, called the court-baron, for redreſſing miſdemeſnors and nuſances within the manor, and for ſettling diſputes of property among the tenants. This court is an inſeparable ingredient of every manor; and if the number of ſuitors ſhould ſo fail, as not to leave ſufficient to make a jury or homage, that is, two tenants at the leaſt, the manor itſelf is loſt.
Before the ſtatute of quia emptores, 18 Edw. I. the king's greater barons, who had a large extent of territory held under the crown, granted out frequently ſmaller manors to inferior perſons to be held of themſelves; which do therefore now continue to be held under a ſuperior lord, who is called in ſuch caſes the lord paramount over all theſe manors: and his ſeignory is frequently termed an honour, not a manor, eſpecially if it hath belonged to an antient feodal baron, or hath been at any time in the hands of the crown. In imitation whereof, theſe inferior lords began to carve out and grant to others ſtill more minute eſtates, to be held as of themſelves, and were ſo proceeding downwards in infinitum; till the ſuperior lords obſerved, that by this method of ſubinfeudation they loſt all their feodal profits, of wardſhips, marriages, and eſcheats, which fell into the hands of theſe meſne or middle lords, who were the immediate ſuperiors of the terre-tenant, or him who occupied the land. This occaſioned the ſtatute of Weſtm. 3. or quia emptores, 18 Edw. I. to be made; which directs, that, upon all ſales or feoffments of land, the feoffee
